Canada’s biggest corporations have more than 1,000 subsidiaries in tax havens, report says

Canada’s 60 biggest corporations have more than 1,000 subsidiaries in offshore tax havens, depriving government coffers of up to $15 billion annually, according to a new report being published Wednesday.

The report, titled “Bay Street and Tax Havens: Curbing Corporate Canada’s Addiction” and prepared by the group Canadians for Tax Fairness, shines a light on one of the legal methods used by big corporations to reduce their taxes — tax havens.

“The reality is that most companies do this,” said Diana Gibson, the report’s author. “It’s not illegal, but it should be.”

Companies named in the Paradise Papers leak, made public last week, defended themselves by pointing out that they didn’t break any laws. But Gibson says legality isn’t the point.

“It’s not necessarily about whether it’s illegal or not, the issue is that it’s doing harm to Canada,” she said.

If the billions that remain on company balance sheets were instead collected in taxes, they could pay for a national pharmacare program, free university tuition or affordable public child care.

“Not only are tax havens costing us those lost opportunities to invest in public programs, but we’re also seeing harm to economic growth due to the inequality made worse by tax havens,” Gibson said.  (more...)

Canada’s biggest corporations have more than 1,000 subsidiaries in tax havens, report says