Sunday, November 5, 2017

The Paradise Papers



The prospect of real tax reform in Canada just got a lot dimmer. Today's release of the Paradise Papers suggests why.

CBC News is reporting this about Justin Trudeau's chief fundraiser, Stephen Bronfman:
In the early summer of 2015, Justin Trudeau was the star attraction at a private fundraiser in Montreal hosted by philanthropist and financier Stephen Bronfman.

Bronfman, an heir to the Seagram family fortune and a close Trudeau family friend, was revenue chair of the Liberal Party. That day, according to news reports, the two men raised $250,000 in under two hours.

Within weeks, the Liberals would launch their federal election campaign, sweeping to power on a "Real Change" platform that focused on the middle class and a promise to tax the rich.

"Our government has long known — indeed, we got elected — on a promise to make sure that people were paying their fair share of taxes," Trudeau said shortly after his election victory. "Tax avoidance, tax evasion is something we take very seriously."

But an investigation by the CBC, Radio-Canada and the Toronto Star has found that Bronfman and his Montreal-based investment company, Claridge Inc., were key players linked to a $60-million US offshore trust in the Cayman Islands that may have cost Canadians millions in unpaid taxes.

It's a 24-year paper trail of confidential memos and private records involving two prominent families with Liberal Party ties that experts say appear to show exploitation of legal tax loopholes, disguised payments and possible "sham" transactions.
You can read much more at the above links.

4 comments:

  1. The Guardian has a big splash on Trudeau and Bronfman, a story out of New York.

    https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/justin-trudeau-adviser-stephen-bronfman-offshore-paradise-papers

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    1. Thanks for the link, Mound. I'll check it out.

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  2. Even better stories on CBC.ca this morning. I like the one about the Liberal Senator who held up a bill in 2008, Kill Bill. Then the election happened and all our happy oligarchs breathed a sigh of relief when Harper didn't reintroduce it after the election. Phew, that was close!

    http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/business/paradise-papers-offshore-bronfman-lobbying-1.4384912

    Golly gee, we know all our hard-working oligarchs deserve a tax break. And Appleby, well they only assisted with "legal" hoarding, as any ethical company would. Mind you, they had a sales drive in Canada back in 2012 trying to find new business. Appleby states that any self-respecting person or company with money would do the same thing, and governments are to blame for not lowering tax rates at home for the wealthy. Simple.

    Yes indeed I see the point, but even a 10% rate would be heinously huger than the zero they're paying now. Oh the logic of the privileged: It's not OUR fault we pay so little, YOU forced us offshore with your predatory taxes. Meanwhile minimum tax rate for the working poor is 15% plus provincial. Obviously a rich person couldn't tolerate such highway robbery.

    This is an opportunity for Canadians to force change out of our "betters", but I predict precisely nothing will be happen or will be done beyond a lot of arm-twirling and pious pledges. And anyway, some of the very rich are feeling so pinched for a spare hundred million or two they want the City of Calgary to donate a new hockey arena to them. I mean someone has to look after our elite, why not the little man?

    BM

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    1. The National devoted its entire newscast to the issue last night, BM, but I still had questions after watching it. This morning's coverage in The Star cleared up most of them. I tend to agree that little will be done; Trudeau et al. move in some rarefied circles, and I suspect they all share the same values.

      I hope the howls of outrage grow to the point that Justin realizes that his sanctimonious rhetoric and platitudes have hit a wall. What is especially telling, in my mind, is the fact that Canada lags far behind other jurisdictions in pursuing these offshore havens, despite the explosive revelations of the Panama Paper.

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