FROM ONE TO..

FROM ONE TO ONE HUNDRED
Canadians who have been legally robbed and financially devastated
due to “Income” Taxes levied on nonexistent, (phantom), income,
have been submitting comments to the “Canadians for Fair and Equitable Taxation”,
(CFET), Petition for the Canadian Government.

The First one hundred submissions are presented here with comments
By Victor Drummond ©
March 2009

Below are the opening lines of the CFET petition.

To the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Revenue, Members of parliament of all parties

We, the undersigned, are shocked to learn that the government is taxing people on paper income they never in reality made, a.k.a. phantom income.

Visit: www.cfet.ca to read the full text.
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The first 100 entries on the Petition Sign-on page -- with space for comment -- are as follows:

There are only 98 individual entries, in that space, as two are recognizable duplicates.

Of the 98 individual entries only 31 posted a comment.
Not one comment, however, said anything good about the taxing of phantom income.

Of the 98 individual entries 15 preferred to sign in as “Anonymous”
Why?

The best explanation for some people to remain anonymous, when signing the CFET petition, was contained in an e-mail that arrived at the CFET via the web page -- inquiry@ link -- this week.

The author of the letter explained why they supported CFET but was reluctant to actually join the group, as follows:
"I wished to remain anonymous. I suspect cra folk read these and remember.."

That is our Canada – a place where many honest, hard-working, victimized taxpayers, and their supporters, are afraid to be identified with their honest opinion for fear of being persecuted.

Do you suppose there is any justification for this concern? It has never happened to me, yet.
Ask someone who lost their home, and/or life savings, to the taxman, what they think about possible reprisals for telling it the way they see it.

What a sad state of affairs for honest, hard-working, Canadians to find themselves living with.

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The First one hundred CFET Petition Entries

(1) R.V. No comment – known victim of tax on phantom income
(2) G.L.H. No comment – Family relative of known victim.
(3) L.M.H. No comment – Family relative of known victim

(4) J.B. I lost about $60,000 in stock options – known victim

(5) S.F. No comment

(6) Anonymous The Department of Finance has been aware of the unfairness in the income tax legislation as it relates to stock options for a number of years and has not considered the negative personal financial consequences significant enough to change the legislation. Finance has allowed remission orders for several people with almost identical fact patterns to some of the individuals involved in this petition and have made little or no attempt to correct the legislative problem.

(7) K.T. This unjust and punitive legislation should never have been allowed to exist in Canada in the first place.

(8) T.B. The law must be changed! I am not involved, but I understand the unfairness and stupidity of the present law. I will be taking up the matter with my Conservative MP James Lunney to request his support for a change.
(9) P. M. No comment
(10) K.A. No comment
(11) R.K. No comment known victim
(12) B.B. No comment
(13) J.T. No comment known victim
(14) F.K. No comment

(15) R. de Z. The 'employment benefit' should only be calculated on income received, when shares are sold, not when options are exercised and no income has been realized.

(16) G.C. The tax law vis-a-vis ESOs is clearly unreasonable. It is as ridiculous as saying the capital gain on a stock investment should be based not on the actual buy & sell prices, but on the lowest and highest market prices of the stock during the time it was held--since that was the potential capital gain on the transaction. Stupid and punitive.

(17) K.H. No comment known victim
(18) T.B. No comment
(19) L.R. No comment

(20) Anonymous The ESOB/ESPP legislation is flawed. The Conservative govt recognizes this fact by its action to extend relief to a select group of Canadians. I congratulate the Conservative govt for this relief. However, the govt must now extend the same relief to all canadians impacted by the flawed legislation. The govt must act immediately to prevent any further suffering and potentially serious consequences. Taxing people on unrealized income is simply forcing canadians to make loan to the government at 0% interest rate. This is clearly unacceptable in any civilized nations, especially canada which prides itself as a just and fair society.

(21) D.R.P. The current tax legislation on ESO's is very unfair and punitive

(22) Anonymous No comment
(23) Anonymous No comment
(24) T.H. No comment
(25) L.P. No comment
(26) L.H. No comment
(27) R.I. No comment
(28) A.S. No comment
(29) A.K. No comment
(30) M.B. No comment

(31) C. This tax has destroyed many families and ruined the lives of many hard working people. The government must act immediately before more people's lives get destroyed.

(32) M.W. Back in 1999 I got the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance interested in this issue, and a letter was sent to Paul Martin (then Finance Minister). Nothing useful came of it.

(33) Anonymous No comment

(34) Anonymous I am personally affected by this flawed tax law. As the company I worked for during the boom and bust was finally de-listed last year, I am forced to declare the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of phantom employment "benefit" on this year's tax return. This is another family about to be destroyed!

(35) M.M. This legislation is a blot on the Canadian society that prides itself on compassion, justice and fair play. It also undermines the competitiveness of the Canadian high-tech industry and discourages young Canadians from taking up careers in developing new technology.

(36) P.M. No comment

(37) Anonymous I am one of the individuals affected by this legislation. I would like to see us given the same treatment as former JDS Uniphase employees in BC got last year from the Federal government while facing a similar tax situation.

(38) R.S.O. I went to work for a lesser salary and employee options. I understood that I could move to the US for a much more substantial salary. I understood that I took a risk by reducing my ability to save money for my families future. And I balanced these against an opportunity represented by my options. Neither myself nor my employer nor my accountant understood the real risk I incurred. The Canadian
government communicated the benefits of employee options very well; they were
fighting the "brain drain". However, they didn't communicate the risk at all;
thousands of Canadians now owe taxes on money they never saw.

(39) J.L. No comment

(40) G.M. Based on this surprise, I'll think twice before taking a job with stock options.

(41) M.M. No comment
(42) G.H. No comment

(43) J.H. Canadians are generally completely unaware of this unjust tax law. When made aware that debt on phantom profits is a reality in our supposed "fair country" we call Canada....the response is always "how can this be"???????

(44) G.B. As with all beefs with unfair taxes it depends on who you know in government, not whether its fair or unjust. If you'r the Bronfman family for example you get a one time exemption to shift all your profits to the USA to avoid paying the tax in Canada . Don’t try this yourself you need politicians in your pocket so to speak.. We are one of the few countries in the world where a CCR letter of advice
in not binding. So they can make it it up on the go, is that fair? NO.
(45) M.F.G. The inequity of these laws is certainly a low point for Canadian taxation. The government that has the sense of fairness to correct this injustice would do well by the voters of Canada.

(46) M.W. No comment
(47) B.M. No comment
(48) S.G. No comment
(49) Anonymous No comment
(50) M.N. No comment
(51) D.I. No comment
(52) T.B. No comment
(53) K.F. No comment
(54) A.M. No comment
(55) S. No comment

(56) Anonymous I would also like to propose to withdraw capital gain taxes as a separate class of income. All income are same that we use them for living.

(57) P.T. This is indeed an issue that needs to be addressed as it severely impacts the entrepreneurial individuals that seek to make a difference and are willing to take some risks

(58) T.P. No comment
(59) Anonymous No comment
(60) E.B. No comment
(61) D.J.B. No comment
(62) A.G. No comment
(63) D.K. No comment
(64) S.B. No comment
(65) R.D. No comment
(66) J.W. No comment
(67) F.H. No comment

(68) D.P. This is clearly ridiculous and needs to be changed by a brilliant politician

(69) D.P. No comment
(70) Anonymous No comment
(71) D.B. No comment

(72) M.H. Time for common sense to prevail. Business in Canada is tough enough as it is without additional detractors.

(73) M.B. No comment
(74) L.C. No comment
(75) D.G. No comment
(76) B.J. No comment
(77) J.D. No comment

(78) M.M. Canada already has trouble keeping talented people here because of our taxes.Taxing citizens on money they never had is definitely unfair.

(79) R.L. No comment
(80) J.B. No comment
(81) G.H. No comment
(82) J.Y. No comment
(83) D.J. No comment

(84) S.K.A. This is extremely important for many of us. This situation needs to be addressed and fixed. Thanks for taking this initiative.

(85) R.A.E. Taxing potential, theoretical income, not real income is blatantly unfair. The law must be changed before more citizens are hurt.

(86) S.K.A. This is extremely important for many of us. This situation must be addressed and fixed. I know one of my colleagues who has nervous breakdown through this situation and has been very sick. Thanks for the initiative

(87) S.K.A. Duplicate of (86) above.

(88) Anonymous Completely unfair and hence un-Canadian.

(89) A.H. The law as it stands is brutally unfair and should be amended immediately I have not personally been harmed by this unjust aberration in Canada's tax law but I do know some who have.

(90) G.M. No comment
(91) G.J. this is a very unfair tax burden
(92) P.D. No comment
(93) P.H. Taxing citizens on money that they never received is definitely unfair.
(94) Anonymous No comment
(95) C.H. No comment
(96) C.H. Duplicate of (95) above.
(97) Anonymous I support the above petition.
(98) J.K. No comment
(99) Anonymous No comment
(100) C.K. No comment

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In the above listing only the initials of the CFET petition signers have been given.

If you found the above posted comments interesting you should visit the “Canadians for Fair and Equitable Taxation” web pages and follow the “Sign our Petition” and “Signatures” links to get an advanced reading of a planned future Victor Drummond blog titled: “FROM ONE HUNDRED TO TWO HUNDRED”.

While catching up on this topic sign the CFET petition, and post a comment, to add incentive for the Canadian Government to take corrective action.

Also planned for future Victor Drummond postings, to this blog, are a series of letters, e-mails and snail mails to various Ministers and MP’s in Canada’s Governments, past and present, and the really intelligent replies those appellants, lucky enough to get a reply, received in response.

Names and dates of the letters to be posted may be altered, or omitted, to protect the identity of the guilty.

If you would like to support the mission of CFET to achieve taxation of phantom income in Canada as fair as it now is in the USA then contact you’re Member of Parliament and say so.

Contact information is listed on the web page at: http://www.yayacanada.com/MPs.html

See you at the next federal election polls O’Grady.

Victor Drummond ©