A Citizen’s Call To Canada’s Finance & Revenue Ministers – Please Stop All The Tax Dodging In The Upcoming Federal Budget

The Following Letter Was Sent To Two Federal Cabinet Ministers by Niagara, Ontario citizen Gary King and is being posted in Niagara At Large with his permission.

Every Canadian citizen who pay their fair share (and sometimes more than their fair share) of taxes in this country while some of the wealthiest among us fly out tens of billions of dollars each year to tax havens in other regions of the world, should read this letter and continue sending one of their own to our political leaders.

Now here is Gary King’s great letter.

Dear Minister of Finance Bill Morneau and Minister of Revenue Diane Lebouthillier, 

I’m writing to urge you to follow through on your promise to do more to combat international tax evasion and reform the Canada Revenue Agency in the upcoming budget. 

Some months ago the Canadian public learned that KPMG, a massive multinational accounting firm, intentionally organized a “sham” tax scheme to help millionaires dodge taxes with offshore accounts.

Now we have heard that  the CRA, after acknowledging the scheme to be illegal, now intends to ‘forgive’ them any penalties, provided they pay up what is owed.  This is outrageous and no self-respecting Canadian could condone this.

KPMG and charges of millionaire clients of the firm engaging in offshore tax dodging are becoming the subject of growing media attention.

When the CRA regularly makes it its practice to chase down and hound regular citizens who owe marginal amounts, it is unconscionable that  these super wealthy clients got amnesty – even after several CRA staff raised the alarm about the unfair deal.

The Liberals were elected on the promise that there would be a return to fairness and equity in government – something the former Conservatives seemed unable or unwilling to do.

By permitting KPMG and their clients to avoid the consequences of their deliberate actions, without so much as a slap in the wrist, is an affront to Canadians.

It will also send a clear message that when they try to dodge their tax obligations next time, which we know many will, they will simply need to be more deceitful so that your government can look the other way.

This is the moment to act. At a time when you are running a deficit to keep campaign promises and make key investments, the billions we lose to wealthy tax dodgers could go a long way towards improving our fiscal strength while paying for infrastructure and social services. 

Please close tax loopholes and put in places measures to stop tax dodging in the upcoming budget. 

I look forward to your response. Thank you.

Gary King, Welland, Ontario, Canada.

A Footnote from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper – Further to Gary King’s letter, I urge you to watch the following documentary called ‘The Great Canadian Tax Dodge’ which was aired a number of times on the TV Ontario (TVO) channel during last fall’s federal election in Canada.

Here is the link for that documentary  – http://tvo.org/video/documentaries/the-great-canadian-tax-dodge

For a recent report by CBC on Canadian tax dodgers being granted amnesty by Revenue Canada under the former Harper government click on – http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/public-hearings-cra-kpmg-offshore-tax-deal-1.3481677 .

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN. Niagara At Large encourages you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.

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