A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
“Only little people pay taxes,” said the late U.S. billionaire and hotelier Leona Helmsley, who remains one of the very few North Americans in her economic strata to actually go to jail for tax evasion.
Helmsley was far from wrong and may very well have gotten away with her own transgressions had she not flaunted them so arrogantly. How else, to this day can you explain why a small business in Canada or the United States, or someone working for wages that barely puts them above the poverty line pays out as much as a third or more of their earnings in taxes while some of the wealthiest corporations on the continent pay no taxes at all – ZIPPO!
Of course, there are a number of corporations paying some tax and the average in Canada is about 25 per cent of total earnings, compared to abuot 35 per cent in the United States, believe it or not and given that some of our more Conservative in this country, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Tory opposition leader Tim Hudak want to cut corporate taxes even more.
Harper and Hudak want to do more across-the-board corporate tax cuts even though there has never been any hard evidence that this approach – sometimes described infamously as trickle-down economics- creates any net number of decent paying jobs. More often than not, it simply allows the upper 1 per cent to shovel even more profits into their pockets.
In a recent interview on NBC’s Meet The Press, American satirist and critic Bill Maher said he can understand why the upper 1 per cent, enjoying the vast majority of wealth on this continent vote for republicans or conservatives. But why, he asked, would so many others at the lower end f the economic spectrum vote republican or conservative? Why, in other words, would they vote againt their own interests for better health care, a better and more affordable education children for their children and grandchildren, etc.
They are America’s “willing idiots,” said Maher, just as Hudak is counting on willing idiots in Ontario to vote his Tea Party Tories into government in an election the province may be facing as early as this spring.
The information below, including an audio interview link for an interview Michael Enright of CBC Radio’s great show, Sunday Edition, did this March, 2014 with Dennis Howlett, head of the public interest group Canadians for Tax Fairness, should be a mandatory part of the curriculum for all secondary and post-secondary students across this country. What you will follow below is what we, the people, who get screwed almost every time by the upper 1 per cent, need to know.
Of course, it is unlikely some of our political leaders like Hudak, would get anything out of it because they don’t want to get anything out of it. It is the upper 1 per cent that pours money into their political campaigns.
Now here we go with the stuff below, with a blessing from Canadians for Tax Fairness to run it .
Dennis Howlett did an extended interview with CBC Sunday Edition’s Michael Enright about corporate tax evasion. It will be broadcast Sunday March 16. Here’s some background:
Canaidan tax fairness advcate Dennis Howlett
When you are hunched over your dining room table in the coming weeks, buried in paperwork, your stomach in knots and your head swimming, here’s a sobering fact to consider: 26 of the most powerful and profitable Fortune 500 companies paid zero dollars in federal income tax between 2008 and 2012.
Boeing paid nothing. General Electric… nothing. Verizon….nothing. For five straight years. And the craziest part: it wasn’t illegal. In fact, the lawyers and accountants who figured out how to do it, are all likely getting hefty bonuses.
Corporate tax avoidance has become an essential part of doing business for multinational corporations the world over. They use complex, opaque business practices to shift profits into low or no-tax jurisdictions.
The situation is little better in Canada. The Canada Revenue Agency is currently locked in a protracted court battle with the uranium mining firm Cameco, which has an office in a Swiss tax haven.
Cameco is hardly alone.
Top Canadian publicly traded companies use multiple tax avoidance tactics – from transferring profits to offices in tax havens to paying CEOs and directors in stock options that are not subject to tax.
CBC Radio Sunday Edition’s Michael Enright wanted to find out more. Listen in to interview with Tax Fairness’ Executive Director Dennis Howlett
Help get the message out. Share this story. Canadians for Tax Fairness runs on a shoestrbg as wekk as a passion for justice Donate to help us keep up the fight. For more information, click on http://www.taxfairness.ca .
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Niagara At Large 
The Canadian population has been captured and “dumbed down” by corporate media… which is why our country’s economy and international reputation are circling the drain.
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Actually Mark it has gone down the drain as the so called P.M. of Canada struts around like a peacock who things he matters on the world stage. He is but the strings on a puppet as he caters to the whims of the “Bilderberg’s” and we the taxpaying peoples are the puppets. This person (not gentleman) is arrogant and very ignorant of the the feelings of “most” Canadians who witness his lies and half truths. His complete indulgences in his own ego and complete lack of compassion and concern for the plight of the very people who installed him is pathetic ans sickeningly criminal. Bill Maher is so right when he states the obvious….They are America’s “willing idiots,” said Maher, and you Doug in the follow up…..just as Hudak is counting on willing idiots in Ontario to vote his Tea Party Tories into government in an election the province may be facing as early as this spring. Those same idiots put Harper and his willing “judas” into a position where this country is falling on its own corporate sword.
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