Edmonton Journal
July 24, 2009
Re: "Ottawa, provinces look to beef up pensions," The Journal, July 22.
I find it ironic that the federal government and the provinces are meeting in Calgary to consider how to encourage Canadians to save more since the economic downturn eroded savings.
The truth is that the Tory government in Ottawa, aided and abetted by the provinces, especially Ontario and Alberta, devastated seniors' incomes with the legislation introduced in November 2006 announcing the taxation of income trusts.
Seniors lost billions in their portfolios and to this day the federal government has not been able to justify its actions or provide evidence of taxation losses because of the existence of income trusts.
In fact, time has shown that the feds have lost billions of dollars in taxation as a direct result of this legislation, which was politically motivated at the request of big insurance companies and other financial institutions.
Yes, the second shoe to fall was the economic downturn, but the first shoe to fall was the devastation brought on with the taxation of income trusts and the impact this decision has had on seniors' incomes and the deterioration of income trust values since 2006.
S. J. Rideout, Edmonton
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Ottawa can do much to 'beef up' pensions
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
But something had to be done about the income trusts. More and more corporations were using them to avoid corporate taxes. Telus, for example, was in the process of moving much of its company into an income trust. It was obvious that corporate tax revenue would plummet if income trusts were allowed to go on as they were.
If you're going to criticize the government for this move, you should suggest a better solution.
Rabbit:
Your comment does nothing to commend you.
I suggest you follow your own advice, and get the facts before you blindly support the government's actions.
First of all, Telus does not even pay taxes as a corporation, but that would require your ability to read an income statement or a cash flow statement, both of which are publicly available for Telus. Ditto for BCE, who pays zero in corporate taxes.
I suggest you take a read of this Mythbuster available at the CAITI site, since January 2007:
http://caiti.info/resources_it_mythbusters.php#myth3
Second, as an income trust, the unitholders of Telus would be paying taxes at the average rate of 38% on Telus' deistributions, which would raise BILLIONS in ADDITIONAL NET tax revenue for the government versus the present day situation.
Again read the Mythbuster at http://caiti.info/resources_it_mythbusters.php#myth3
As such, there is no solution required to the "problem" of alleged tax leakage, since that was policy hoax from the outset designed to fool people like you.
Evidently it worked.
Brent Fullard
Yup it sure did,
rabbit
It always amazes when people pass an authoritative opinion about a subject that they have done so little if any research on. Some might call it arrogance.
Do at least the modicum of research the Brent Fullard suggests and then report back on your opinion based on the facts of the situation.
Post a Comment