Re: Loopholes costing Canada billions in lost revenue, June 17

Loopholes costing Canada billions in lost revenue, June 17

Once again the public is being treated to yet another in a long list of soon to be forgotten investigations into legalized fraudulent corporate behaviour that reveals the obscenely offensive systemic and endemic corruption that lies at the core of our free enterprise system.

The foxes have been put in charge of the hen house. Through government lobbying, corporations – or what John Perkins termed “the corporatocracy” – make the laws that govern their own self-interest with the willing complicity of politicians and CRA bureaucrats who seem nonplussed by this egregious and undisguised effort to avoid paying any taxes at all under the guise of remaining “globally competitive.” Democracy has for all intents and purposes been privatized in everything but name – and even more disturbing – we don’t care.

This is the same corporate system that regularly and imperiously demands who is going to pay for social services, health care, education, infrastructure spending and the CPP as it cloaks itself in an image of humility, community service and integrity to the unsuspecting citizenry while quietly raping the public purse behind the closed doors of our secretive corporate tax system. It is a carnival shell game and the Canadian taxpayers are the marks.

Even more infuriating for the regular taxpaying public in the face of these revelations is that bigoted corporate PR propagandists will piously intone that they are paying all their legal taxes in Canada – and they are correct. It is all legal and willingly endorsed by our own supposedly fair, honest and democratic Canadian politicians and economists who we trust to run our society in an equitable manner.

Instead, over the last 50 years corporate tax rates have plummeted under the relentless demands of big business despite scant evidence that this economic practice works, the HST was implemented to offload corporate taxes on to the consuming public and governments of all political stripes have quietly introduced “loopholes” like tax havens to provide preferential treatment to big-business multinationals while significantly increasing the tax burden on ordinary Canadians.

During this same period the economy has continued its boom and bust cycles with little discernible effect from low corporate taxes on job creation other than creating billions more in what the former Bank of Canada’s governor Mark Carney called “dead money” on corporate balance sheets and boosting shareholder profits.

What politician or reasonable person thinks it is fair to tilt the tax table so heavily in favour of corporations in this way? In addition, governments regularly dole out billions in “corporate welfare” to companies that cry poor to “incentivize” them to locate in Canada.

This drain on the public coffers with the tacit endorsement of government politicians is a travesty of integrity by our politicians because it has savaged the funds necessary to build and continue the social safety net in society. It has allowed and ensured privatized profits and wealth while socializing risk to the Canadian public.

Our politicians allow this to happen and seem powerless to stop this legal tax theft while simple legislation outlawing tax haven use could be passed immediately with full taxes owing. It appears anything is possible for rich corporations while nothing seems to be possible for the working public who labour under the burden of these fatuous Robber Barons.

Robert Bahlieda, Newmarket