Marshall Savings Plan petition tabled by Liberal MP Paul Szabo

On March 4, 2010 Liberal MP Paul Szabo rose in the House of Commons and tabled the following petition (signed by 3,421 Canadians) and did so with the following motion: “In view of the fact that there is no justification for the imposition of the 31.5% tax on income trusts that the government take all necessary steps to introduce and implement the Marshall Savings Plan.”

The Petition reads as follows:

PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA


WHEREAS: The Prime Minister solemnly promised to all Canadians during the 2006 election that his government would NEVER tax Income Trusts and subsequently reversed that promise by claiming that income trusts cause tax leakage as the justification for breaking that promise.

WHEREAS: In claiming that income trusts cause tax leakage, the Prime Minister left out all the taxes paid by the 38% of income trusts in RRSPs/RRIFs, etc., the proper inclusion of which in his calculation would result in the determination that no tax leakage exists whatsoever, as determined by reputable groups like HLB Decision Economics, BMO Capital Markets. RBC Capital Markets and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

WHEREAS: Income trusts did not cause tax leakage, which was simply a false pretense that has now resulted in the takeover of 51 income trusts by foreigners and other non taxable entities and which as a direct consequence HAS caused three times as much tax leakage as was falsely alleged to have existed in the first place.

WHEREAS: The income trust tax also creates an unlevel playing field between the 75% of Canadians without pensions who must pay the 31.5% trust tax and the 25% of Canadians with pensions who can evade the 31.5% tax.

WHEREAS: This creates a grossly unfair two tiered pension system, and leaves the remaining 169 trusts, whose Canadian investors pay $6 billion in annual tax revenue, at risk of foreign takeover and further tax losses.

WHEREAS: The Prime Minister has prorogued Parliament for the specific purpose of 'recalibrating' his policies in a Budget to be tabled to Parliament on March 4, 2010 that addresses the needs of Canadians and deals with Canada's deficit and pension crises that arose from the recent financial turmoil. Therefore,

We, the undersigned residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to: acknowledge that the Government's financial justification for imposing the tax was flawed and to recalibrate and remedy the matter by adopting the Marshall Savings Plan (MSP) in Budget 2010, on the basis of the following signatures and with the knowledge that a recent Environics poll (see attached) indicates that 79.6% of Canadians support the inclusion of the MSP in Budget 2010.