ONE-O-ONE TO..

ONE-O-ONE TO TWO 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 Second 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.

(Note: Victor Drummond: Definition of “phantom income”.
Phantom income is income that “might” have happened but did not happen yet has bee taxed as though it did happen. Unfairness personified.)

Visit: www.cfet.ca to read the full text.
========================================

The second 100 entries on the Petition Sign-on page -- with space for comment -- are as follows:

Of the 100 individual entries only 24 posted a comment.
Not one comment, however, said anything good about the taxing of phantom income.

Of the 100 individual entries 17 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 -- last 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.

Especially when the Canadian Government has produced a document titled:
“Serving Canadians – Canada’s System of Justice”
Ref: www.justice.gc.ca/eng/dept-min/pub/just/img/courten.pdf

Telling Canadians how Canadian laws are designed to assure equality and fairness.


The Second one hundred CFET Petition Entries
=========================================
(101) M.D. No comment
(102) C.A. No comment
(103) Anonymous No comment
(104) R.N. No comment
(105) G.B. No comment
(106) D.B. No comment
(107) B.R. No comment
(108) B.O’S No comment
(109) Anonymous No comment
(110) Anonymous No comment
(111) Anonymous No comment
(112) G.E. No comment
(113) D.P. No comment
(114) G.R.H. No comment

(115) R.B. I simply didn't understand that when they said tax deferral it didn't work the same
as RRSP's. I actually owed $47,000 in taxes before I even received the shares by courier! If all Canadians are equal, why have some been let off? I thought taxation was a way to share wealth - not my life savings.

(116) R.K. No comment
(117) Anonymous No comment
(118) C.B. No comment
(119) A.N. No comment
(120) Anonymous No comment
(121) J.M. No comment
(122) Anonymous No comment
(123) N.D. No comment
(124) P.C.W. No comment

(125) D.E. I have been involved in over 10 start up's and in each case the ability to use stock options as a key part of attracting employees to join the company was instrumental in our success. This tax is punitive and regressive and punishes those people willing to take a risk with new ventures. I would hope that the Government of Canada wants to reward these innovators not punish them. Action needs to be taken to address this punitive tax issue immediately.

(126) T.P. No comment

(127)B.C. Canadian Taxpayers are usually mobile workers and Canadian Tax laws must remain competitive with USA or else workers will seek employment in US locations. Key Knowledge workers are the prime asset and future foundation of Canadian Jobs and Job Development.-----DO NOT KILL THE GOLDEN GOOSE.

(128) J.S. No comment
(129) R.G. No comment
(130) J.H. No comment

(131) Anonymous I am a chartered accountant in public practice and have many clients adversely effected by this. What’s even more unfair is that a group of employees in Victoria (JDS Uniphase) were given special relief. Where is the equity in this?

(132) T.P. No comment
(133) K.S. No comment
(134) M.K. No comment
(135) B.H. No comment
(136) B.M. No comment

(137) D.C. This problem has arisen in our company as part of a policy we had to encourage people to be owners of shares in the company. They now have serious liabilities as a result of this ownership plan.

(138) D.N. No comment

(139) Anonymous This does seem an unfair situation when people are incurring a tax liability without any associated benefit.

(140) M.S. No comment
(141) J.S. No comment
(142) I.W. No comment

(143) M.S. Stock options are a key incentive to drive entrepreneurship in Canada. They need to be treated fairly tax-wise

(144) P.E.S. I would have to die first before selling the shares as to do otherwise would be wipe out my retirement income with taxes owed on money I never received. This is like living with an anvil over my head.

(145) T.D. No comment

(146) G.I. I was employed at JDSU as a Mechanical Engineer and received a number of stock options. In my retirement this unfair tax has left me in in danger of losing my home and property. I have been working with CRA to resolve my tax debt by other means but with little success to date. Meanwhile the debt continues to grow.

(147) B.C. No comment

(148) N.S. I've been working in the investment industry - and advising clients - for the past decade, and have come across many individuals who have been seriously harmed by this ill conceived taxation. I am aware of some of the nuances as to why the taxation was thought to be prudent, but I am also aware of the many-fold more reasons as to why it has been indiscriminately damaging - both to individuals who have faced ruin as an innocent consequence to their actions, as well as to new/young/growing businesses trying to attract and keep talent. As the petition states, there are many viable approaches for remedying the situation while still adhering to the principle of "fair taxation".

(149) G.B. No comment

(150) W.S. As a victim of taxes owing on income never received, I clearly support the need for a retroactive fix to the legislation than has placed me in a situation that my MP has described as "unconscionable". I do not believe that our MPs ever intended the legislation to penalize citizens. I doubt that the circumstances that have created this situation were ever thought about. It is conceptually an easy fix.

(151) S.N. This is especially in light of the fact that the government made an exception in the case to the JDSU employees at christmas time

(152) J.C. Obviously a problem for the unsuspecting. To help understand the issue such that a better case can be built, it would be useful to know what tax loopholes, if any, may be opened up by making these changes and why, from a Revenue Canada perspective, they have not recommended a change before now.

(153) K.H. No comment
(154) R.W.Mc. No comment
(155) A.B. No comment
(156) Y.L. No comment
(157) N.F. No comment
(158) P.D. No comment
(159) D.F. No comment

(160) A.M. This law seems very unfair to people who work very hard to develop companies and products to improve the economics of Canada.

(161) E.J. This review is long overdue. The current policy discourages entrepreneurship, which I do not feel is the intent of government

(162) L.P. No comment

(163) A.P. Options should be viewed as a vital element in the creation of a vibrant IT industry. Common sense should prevail based on an understanding that any cash tax payments should be associated with a realized cash benefit [e.g., at disposition?].

(164) D.E. No comment
(165) L.Y. No comment
(166) G.C. No comment
(167) D.S. No comment
(168) D.T. No comment
(169) W.W. No comment
(170) Anonymous No comment

(171) T.G.O’F I can accept a tax on actual gains, where the funds are available for paying tax. However, "paper gains" like this make no sense

(172) T.N. This is an unfair tax and politicians need to fix this immediately!

(173) Anonymous No comment
(174) M.R. No comment
(175) M.S. No comment
(176) Anonymous No comment
(177) R.C. No comment
(178) M.V. No comment
(179) B.M. No comment

(180) S.I. Thanks for your attention to this matter. As a respectable Canadian, I paid my taxes as I was instructed to do. However, have always felt it was unjust to tax me for money I never made. I had left Nortel had to exercise my options. Still believing it was a great company and not in any need for immediate cash, I bought the stocks and put them into my account. Who knew the stock would go down to less than I paid???

(181) C.H. No comment

(182) J.B. This is clearly unfair, no profit was made, so why tax it?

(183) Anonymous Some of my friends have been victim of this barbarian law. It must go before it destroys so many families.

(184) C.K. I am personally affected by this issue. I exercised options of Scientific Atlanta (SFA) when I left the company. SA was subsequently sold at a far lower price. I am now on the hook for a phantom gain. Why do I not deserve the same treatment as other Canadians in the same position?

(185) Anonymous No comment
(186) Anonymous No comment

(187) I.H. The CRA and Finance have already given selective relief to favoured parties such as JDS Uniphase. Clearly, others are affected but without the same political influence. In the interest of tax fairness, the benefit must be treated as a taxable capital gain, which is available as an offset in the case of a realized capital loss.

(188) T.P. No comment
(189) C.H. No comment
(190) C.H. No comment (Not the same C.H.)

(191) X.(S).Z. I have been waiting for this petition for a long time. I believe that there are lots of people there who are in the similar situation and don't know CFET. It is fortunate for me to read an article in Ottawa Business Journal. Let us do something to save lifes and families of many hard working tax payers!

(192) B.L. This is an unfair approach to taxation and needs to be corrected.

(193) J.D. No comment
(194) P.T. No comment
(195) R.B. No comment

(196) J.M. This is a core issue of fairness for individuals and a wet blanket on tech business development in Canada.

(197) K.B. No comment

(198) R.H. This regressive tax situation predominates in future-oriented, knowledge-based companies and their employees and executives. As a result, this is one more component of a regulatory and tax fabric which make it harder for us to be internationally competitive in this all-important sector.

(199) Anonymous No comment
(200) Anonymous No comment

===========================================
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 TWO-O-ONE TO THREE 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 CFET mission 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.
Ref: www.fair-iso.org and www.reformAMT.org

Canadian Government document: “Serving Canadians – Canada’s System of Justice” (Yah Right).

Do not tell me Canada’s laws are designed to provide equality and fairness while imposing real taxes on imaginary income – show me.
Correct the unfair taxable benefit legislation and fairly compensate those victimized by it.

M.P. 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 ©