Trick or ....

TRICK OR TREAT?
A Commentary on calling the government’s hand
According to the 2007 Fair Tax Pledge and
The Taxpayers New Bill of Rights.
By Victor Drummond ©
October 31 2007



So Halloween has arrived once again and this time the Canadian Government has some very nice treats in store for those abused taxable benefits victims. You know – the ones that have been levied enormous taxes on a super inflated non-existent “Earned Incomes”.

A year ago a select group of similar victims, JDS Uniphase employees only, were granted some form of tax relief -- which was no doubt a practice run for this years great treat for “The Rest of Us?”

The Honourable Jim Flaherty, Canada’s Minister of Finance, has laid out the “Welcome” mat for all remaining such victims -- of the defective tax legislation – to come Knocking on the Canada Revenue Agency door and yell:- “SHELL OUT”.

How else could anyone interpret statements such as:-

(1) On January 30th 2007 the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance addressed the House of Commons and made the following statement:-

“Make no mistake, the decision that was taken on October 31st, (2006), is all about fairness—fairness in our tax system, fairness for hard-working Canadian taxpayers and their families, fairness for seniors, for business and other levels of government," said Minister Flaherty. "I am not prepared to sacrifice the interests of millions of hard-working Canadians who pay their taxes and play by the rules so that a select group of special interests can enjoy a tax holiday."

AND

(2) A bit later, June 4 2007, the Government updated their (Tax),“Fairness Pledge”, to all Canadians which reads in part:

Our Fairness Pledge
• Our fairness commitment is based on service that is responsive, consistent, and impartial.
• Our actions must reflect objective yet considerate application of the law.
• We recognize that taxpayers have specific needs and concerns.
Information
• We will give taxpayers information that is accurate and understandable. We will explain the laws in language that is plain and clear. We will provide all our services in English and French and, in some cases, other languages too.
There is no doubt about it – the current Conservative Government is planning a great surprise for all Canadians -- who have been unfairly taxed in the past decade or so.

At the very least they will all receive a clear – easy to understand -- explanation of the defective Legislation that gave the CRA the right to tax their non-existent “Income” in the first place.

Come to think about it – a clear, easy to understand, explanation of this flawed legislation -- in the language of our choice -- is not exactly the response we were looking for.

That response sounds more like a TRICK than a Treat.

How about honouring every Canadian’s RIGHT to TRULY “Fair Taxation” by correcting the defective taxable benefit legislation? Then you can explain the law to us in clear, easy to understand, language.

Say for example introducing another government Bill -- similar to Bill C-10 -- By the Hon. James Michael (Jim) Flaherty -- and this time make the Bill Summary to read:- “This enactment amends the Canada Income Tax Act to provide for exclusion of intangible equities, such as Corporation Shares and Company Stocks from the taxable benefit classification.” “Provision is also made for taxpayers who have been levied taxes on non-existent Earned Income to claim all related stock and/or share equity transactions as Capital transactions with their taxes adjusted accordingly.

And then publicizing the restoration of that RIGHT so that all victims are made aware of the opportunity they now have to a really honest and fair tax levy.

This would give substance to the above, 2007, Fair Taxation Pledge, and to the new Tax Ombudsman, and to the new Taxpayers Bill of Rights, and to your statements (1) and (2) above.

Also it would give all Canadians the (2007) Halloween Treat they deserve – and have been denied -- for so long a time.

With the dozens of billions of surplus taxes dollars you have been reporting recently you can not say the government can not afford to be “Fair” in this situation. Do the honourable thing this time.

See you at the voting polls for the next Federal Election. Then we can all play Trick or Treat.

Victor Drummond ©