As a Canadian, I have never felt so abandoned by my government. My MP only sings the Harper spin story and the press seems to have given up. How can a government in Canada betray the people and turn a deaf ear to the hardship it has created? Harper and Flaherty stand firm in their fight against the allegedly evil trust companies and they don't care about the individuals they have hurt. They refuse to listen to facts from experts and they refuse to produce any facts of their own. They are the most ruthless uncaring poliicians Canada has every seen in power. If this is the future for Canadians then we better watch out. If Harper achieves his goal of a majority government there will be no stopping his hidden agenda. What will he betray Canadians on next? Those who support him better watch out because no one is safe with this guy...Canadians can't trust him...he has shown that. -- Abandoned By Our Government, January 05, 2007
Liars are in power and they have stolen money from my grandchildren, my daughter, my family and friends. I just don't care about MY money. I suffer when others lose money only because thay have followed me and believed in a clear promise made by longnose Harper. In this country, we hate liars. In this country, citizens with no honour and heart, don't deserve appreciation. How come we have elected a Prime Minister of that kind? Please God, HELP US! -- Jean-Marie Lapointe, November 26, 2006
The Sad Truth Behind Their Lame Lies
“The story of the staggering loss of corporate tax revenues that circulated before Flaherty's announcement now appears to have been flat wrong. The truth, it seems, is that whatever leakage of corporate tax dollars the trusts caused was more than offset by the increased tax collected from individuals who were recipients of trust distributions” -- Brian Flemming, Halifax Daily News
"You may be right about tax leakage. It may be small to non existent." -- Eric Reguly, Globe & Mail, 9th January online chat
“It wasn’t just that the Composite Index dropped almost 300 points, shedding $26 billion in capitalization in one day (and $36.3 billion in the trust sector in two days!). The real story was the people who took the biggest hit. They weren’t cigar-smoking Wall Street moguls, they were ordinary folks. Many retirees and 50+ baby boomers saw a big chunk of their life savings melt away before their eyes” -- Gordon Pape, GlobeInvestor
"The majority of Canadians believe the federal government is unjustified in slapping a levy on income trusts. About 55 per cent of those surveyed in the national poll, conducted for CanWest News Service over the last week, said the reasons given by the Conservatives for changing the way income trusts will be taxed do not justify breaking their campaign promise on the issue." -- Jack Aubry, CanWest News Service, November 08, 2006
"Last night in Ottawa, the 'Dishonorable' Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty announced his proposal for a Tax Fairness Plan for Canadians. The plan allegedly seeks to restore balance and fairness to the federal tax system by creating a level playing field between income trusts and corporations. I call him "the dishonorable" because I stood in a room with him nine months ago when he told a group of us that 'You can rest assured that the Tories will NOT go after the energy trust business like our predecessors.' But now we have what may be the single-stupidest economic policy move I've ever witnessed."-- Jim Tobin, Fox News Conributor, November 2006
"We looked at 126 businesses that converted from equities to trusts between 2001 and 2005 to prove that Ottawa reaped more, not less, tax revenue after firms converted to income trusts...We found that on average the government stood to collect 2.2 times more in taxes by taxing the distributions of the trust than had been paid by the corporations prior to their conversion." -- GORDON TAIT -- Research Analyst, BMO Nesbitt Burns
"A new report by a major accounting firm disputes the conventional view of income trusts as mature, plodding cash cows. According to a study released Thursday by PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada, trusts have been expanding their businesses and reinvesting their capital at 'impressive' rates, boosting economic growth even as they were making payments to investors.
Income trusts are valued for their ability to churn out regular payouts, but critics say they tend to place growth on the backburner.
Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who stunned investors with a Halloween announcement that trust distributions will be taxed in 2011, raised concerns that further trust conversions would hurt productivity by holding back investment in productivity-enhancing tools.
Ross Sinclair, national leader of the PricewaterhouseCoopers income trust practice, said stereotypes about trusts have formed amid an absence of facts.
'The surprise is the amount of spending in capital they [trusts] are in fact doing,' he said in an interview.
The study of more than 250 income trusts concluded that last year $26.5 billion went towards capital spending -- 230 per cent of profit. In 2004, capital spending was $21.8 billion -- 376 per cent of profit.
In addition, Canada's income trusts reported a 62 per cent increase in profit and a 54 per cent rise in sales in 2005, the report said.
Sinclair said the findings confirm that companies that converted to trusts continued to invest in productivity-enhancing projects and technologies, and to raise cash for capital spending and acquisitions. -- Canadian Press, December 2006
"Among other CCET findings:
-- Energy trusts do not cause federal tax leakage.
The report claims that energy trusts in fact pay more tax revenues than conventional oil and gas companies. Many of those conventional companies wind up paying little corporate tax, if any, the report said.
The report said energy trusts acquired more than $35 billion worth of mature oil and gas assets in the past five years and spent another $15 billion to develop them. In addition, they repatriated $10 billion worth of assets from foreign control over the past decade.
-- Canadians' retirement plans are "tax-deferred" not "tax-exempt" creating a huge savings account for the government that will eventually lead to higher tax revenue as those funds are withdrawn.
-- Dielwart fears the tax changes will lead to lower reinvestment in aging energy assets and ultimately, lower oil and gas production. The changes could also result in lower retirement income for investors, higher energy prices for consumers, and reduced efforts to capture and store greenhouse gas emissions in old oilfields, he added.
-- This is not just about taxes. It's about the environment, personal investments and Canada as an energy leader." -- © The Calgary Herald 2006
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