Canada Fails To Commit To New Anti-Corruption Measures, Real Estate Soars

Your winnings, sir!

This may come as a surprise to your average Canadian, but Canada is a haven for tax fraud. Transparency International released a report this week, judging the effectiveness of the commitments made at the London Anti-Corruption Summit in the spring. The report was a little dry, but an interesting thing was revealed – Canada made no commitment to start punishing professional enablers of fraud. In fact, they noted all of the commitments Canada made were “not new”.

Does it seem odd that we would send people to say we’re not cracking down on enablers of fraud? Well it shouldn’t. Canada has actively promoted itself as an entry to lower tax jurisdictions for decades. Unfortunately, the opaque banking system we created to allow this also attracts fraudsters. By turning a blind eye to international tax fraud, regular Canadians are starting to pay the price of these crimes with their homes.

One of the worst kept secrets in the business world is that Canada is a massive tax haven. We’re one of the few countries in the world where people pay more in taxes than companies. As interesting as that is, that’s not the reason it’s so attractive up here. The real reason is, unlike in the US, we don’t charge taxes on earnings of foreign subsidiaries.  (more...)

Canada Fails To Commit To New Anti-Corruption Measures, Real Estate Soars

Background:

Tax Agreements: From Double Taxation To Double Evasion

Tax Evasion Will Persist Until Parliament Hill Steps Up