Two new tax havens for Canada

Photo Boris Proulx
Gabriel Ste-Marie, mp, Bloc québécois

Boris Proulx

Thursday, February 8, 2018 20:47

UPDATE
Thursday, 8 February 2018 21:35

Look at this article

OTTAWA | Canada will allow its companies to avoid legally paying tax if they are installed in the two new small States partners, that is to say to the experts that Ottawa contributes to the problem of tax havens instead of fighting them.

Few people have heard of these paradise islands of the Caribbean, but Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda have negotiated with the Trudeau government an agreement of the “intelligence tax” the content of which has been provided to mps last week.

The problem : with a detail of canadian law, the companies in the country that have subsidiaries will be able to repatriate their profits without paying tax in Canada.

“Canada is not an ally in the fight against tax havens. On the contrary, it plays a role of facilitator, ” says Marwah Rizqy, a tax expert and professor at the University of Sherbrooke.

Black list

These two new “partners” to Canada, whose population is smaller than the city of Terrebonne, are even part of the “black list” of tax havens of the european Union.

“Canada is pretending to tackle tax havens [and his government] confused people, it is not honest,” said the author Alain Deneault.

Professor of tax law at the Université Laval, André Lareau explains that it is the companies, not rich taxpayers, which could reduce legally their cheque tax.

The government indicates that the canadian law allows its businesses to be “competitive” in these countries, and that agreements information tax help to enforce its laws.

In the opinion of the experts consulted, both Grenada Antigua and Barbuda have a tax system which is too lax and to a public administration that is too small to help Canada to pinch those who evade tax.

Intentions

To the member from the Bloc québécois Gabriel Ste-Marie, Ottawa hides its real intentions.

“Bill Morneau [minister of finance] wants to go to look for information in a country where foreign companies do not have to report income tax ? What he wants is new tax havens “, fulminates the ex-professor of economics.

It will have as an ally the NDP, which has asked the government to stop sign this kind of agreements in the House of commons yesterday.