This is from the Green Party’s 130 page Vision Green policy document
Income trusts
Based on the Conservative Party’s 2006 campaign promise to allow income trusts to retain their non-tax status, more than a million Canadians invested in income trusts. The Conservatives broke their election promise and these investors lost over $30 billion. Many older Canadians saw their retirement savings disappear within hours.
The reason given for breaking the promise was that the government was losing revenue because the trusts did not pay tax. Finance Canada proceeded as if there was no tax revenue from income trusts. This was wrong. The trusts made payments to their investors and those payments were taxed.
There are public policy reasons to constrain or even discourage income trusts. If it could be proved that, over time, such arrangements led to a failure to re-invest profits in modernizing and expanding Canadian operations, action would be appropriate. So far this reasoning is intuitive and not empirical. What is clear is that the stated reason for breaking the promise, tax leakage, was not justified.
Our Vision
The Green Party condemns the Harper government for breaking an election promise and leaving citizens and companies in the lurch. The decision to tax income trusts has left Canadian companies more vulnerable to foreign takeover. It will be years before we fully understand the damage caused by this decision.
Green Solutions
Green Party MPs will:
Review and redress the significant damage to Canadians caused by the broken promise and adjust tax rates in light of that error.
Instruct Finance Canada to complete a study sampling full-cost accounting of income trusts, including lost corporate revenues and personal income tax revenues from investors to determine a fair taxation rate on income trust incomes and dividends.
Push government to adopt these fair taxation rates. Ensure foreign holders of trusts are taxed at a higher rate. In the interim, tax trusts at 10 per cent.
Inform both companies and investors of the process to determine fair tax rates on income trusts.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Green Party condemns Harper government over income trust policy
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8 comments:
Are the Liberals incapable of comprehending this simply and perfectly worded condemnation of the CONs actions vis-a-vis ITs or are they too fie for the challenge?
I may vote Green just because I respect their integrity and self-evident intelligence.
cheers,
m.
m:
Yes the totally useless and inept Liberals seem to be incapable of putting the interests of Canadians ahead of their own interests and those whose interests (ie the Desmarais et al) the Liberals are exclusively concerned with.
It's just that simple: either income trusts increase the net wealth of Canada (i.e. citizens and government) or they do not. And there are ways to measure the net benefits against other forms of ownership. It's a question that can be answered objectively by un-conflicted economists.
No new science to see, Miss Daisy. Let's drive on.
But we do need to give close inspection to a government that used cooked data, then lied, and finally hid data from Parliament. That issue is as large as a prairie sky over Calgary West on a clear day.
I will encourage all my friends to support the Green Party in their efforts to help clarify the Income Trust fiasco. BB
Man O man , Elizabeth May is a breath of fresh air in that stagnant cesspool called Ottawa.
The rest of these guys owe something to somebody making them conflicted & twisted like a bunch of old used sewer snakes.
Elizabeth must win that first seat to gain legitimacy then it should be off to the races.
Her honesty makes her deserving of at least that much.
Dr Mike Popovich
The Green Party
the only party with a true vision
The vision of telling the truth.
The Liberals have no backbone,
the NDP are just inept on the income trust issue and the Conservatives are just visionless !
JC
Dear Liberal Member of Parliament;
The Green Party has got it right on this issue, what is wrong with the Liberal Party?
The Liberal Party could gain a lot of support by taking a similar stance. There are millions of voters who have lost investment funds, retirement savings and retirement income because of this income trust tax debacle.
I am a senior citizen and I can assure you that none of my family or friends will support a political party that does not take issue with the Harper government over this matter.
This has been one of the most damaging and unjustifiable actions ever inflicted on Canadian investors by a Canadian Finance Minister.
Sincerely;
Gerry
Go Green Go. Wow a political party who actually wants to work for regular Canadians ....
Hmm Gag and Mal missed the Green Party's opinion on this biased piece of crap. They also failed to interview another Income Trust expert for balance. Typical of media ...
Thankfully G&M Comentors seem to get it ...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/the-not-so-scary-income-trust-conversion/article1778878/
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