Sunday, April 5, 2009

Prime Minister Stephen Hogwash


You must all have received this load of BS from PMSH, as I did:

My favorite line is ”Canadians must trust”. Which begs the question: "Why, and for whose end purpose?"

November 24, 2006

Dear Mr. Fullard:

Thank you for your e-mail message regarding the government's decision on income trusts. I am pleased to have this opportunity to respond.

I understand your disappointment with this decision. We recognize that Canadian investors, including many pensioners and seniors, have made important investments over the years and benefit from the current income trust structure. However, Canadians must trust that their government is watching out for them and is upholding the values that define us, like fairness. They expect us to fix problems, right injustices and close loopholes

As you know, over the past few months we have seen a clear tax avoidance trend in the creation of new income trusts. Corporations are converting to these structures and the decisions are based largely on tax considerations. The sheer number and size of the Canadian companies attempting to gain short-term tax benefits was threatening Canada's long-term economic growth. Corporations have used this tax rule to create an economic distortion. This year alone there have been almost $70 billion in new income trust announcements.

Canada's New Government strongly believes that the tax system must be progressive, fair and competitive. It must provide the right incentives to create an economic advantage for companies to invest and grow. The tax system must create an advantage for Canada, not an unfair advantage for some Canadian corporate taxpayers. The current income trust situation is not fair.

When corporations don't pay their share of taxes, this burden is shifted onto the shoulders of hardworking individuals and families. We have taken decisive action to protect the best interests of all Canadians. Our Tax Fairness Plan will restore balance to the federal tax system and level the playing field between income trusts and corporations.

Blah Blah Blah. Blah Blah. Blah

Sincerely,


The Rt. Hon. Stephen Hogwash, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada

P.S. Blah Blah Blah

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Re: "When corporations don't pay their share of taxes, this burden is shifted onto the shoulders of hardworking individuals and families."

Duh?

Can we use "corporations" as a placeholder for:

(1) foreign investors who use leveraged buyouts to remove taxable income from Canada tax-free,

(2) defined benefits pension plans that are exempt from double taxation of income trusts,

(3) drug dealers,

(4) pimps,

(5) crooks who fence stolen property, blah, blah, blah.

Louis

Kephalos said...

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST US TO TRUST HARPER???

How much real tax leakage is there, and why won't Flaherty get off his as$ and start plugging real tax leakage?

Why are drug dealers dying in pools of blood in Canadian streets?

The drug trade is so profitable, murderous thugs have gotten into the trade. Harper has done nothing to take the profits out of crime.

But time for some facts. How much is the Blackmarket worth, and how much tax has Flaherty not collected?

From: http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008198

"Underground Economy refers to economic transactions among individuals which are designed to escape detection - also referred to as the irregular economy. Technically, it includes all illegal transactions, eg, PROSTITUTION and drug transactions as well as evasions of TAXATION on otherwise legal activities. For example, a homeowner may hire someone to repair a roof. This is a legal transaction and is routinely reported when the person doing the repair declares the payment as income. However, the labourer may ask for and receive cash payment in which case the income is not declared in order to evade tax. Individuals in various lines of work can potentially underreport income if payment is received in cash.

Law enforcement and taxation officials readily admit that there is a large underground economy but cannot agree on its size. Because of its very nature the size of the irregular economy is difficult to measure, but there is evidence to indicate that in Canada and elsewhere it has grown recently. Underground activities do not enter the official statistics on Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Those employed in the underground economy may be counted as unemployed in the official LABOUR FORCE statistics. If they hold a regular job and also work in the irregular economy, then the total quantity of labour input is incorrectly measured. Because current estimates suggest that the irregular economy may account for from 10% to 25% of reported GDP, and because the irregular economy is growing at a faster rate than GDP, these effects may be serious.

Because a large fraction of transactions in the underground economy appears to be in cash, measuring cash holdings is one method of estimating the extent of the transactions. Basically, this involves estimating the cash needed for regular transactions and then determining the difference between this amount and actual cash used. This method has been used to estimate the size of the underground economy in Canada, the US and other countries. These estimates explain the apparent paradox in the published data on cash holdings. Although it has been widely predicted that the growth in the use of CREDIT CARDS and electronic fund transfers would lead to a cashless society or one in which cash is less important, currency holdings have not declined. Economists assert that this results from the diversion of increasing quantities of cash for use in the irregular economy."

Canadian GNP is $1000 billion.

Underground economy is 25% of aboveground.

Combined tax rate is 33%.

So, Flaherty has left about $80 billion per year on the tables of whore- and crack-houses of Canada.

Dr Mike said...

When Harper mailed out that very personalized letter to us all he was assuming that we were all a bunch of namby pamby yes-men who would be willing to ass-kiss him all the way off of the cliff into the world`s deepest recession since WWII.

Unfortunately , most Canadians puckered-up big time & are now suffering a bad case of "Butt-kissers Brown lip" even as we sink deeper into the financial abyss that wasn`t supposed to happen.

If this guy had a clue or if someone in finance had a single sentient thought they would reverse their decision without question as it would produce the required economic stimulus to help lift us out of this world-wide credit induced funk.

Asking a lot??

Maybe , but there may be hope on the horizon if the Liberals can pick-up the ball the Cons dropped so deftly.

Pleas Iggy do what`s right & clean-up this mess once & for all.

Dr Mike Popovich