Wow! So you mean high taxes DOESN’T keep capital in Canada? Who’d have thunk it? Liberals and the liberal-left—that’s who.
And so we can see the liberal-left’s plans are working exactly as they’d apparently hoped. Either that or they’re just plain dumb. I’ll err on the side of politeness and assume they mean for this to happen.
Even the Liberal Prime Minister, Paul (“we lead the world”) Martin registered his shipping company’s ships offshore. He wouldn’t want to do anything to endorse Canada as a good place to invest and maintain capital—hey maybe it isn’t!
Here’s a different plan for Canadians to try some day: Give conservatives a shot in the big office. They’ve been harping about the high taxes and the brain-drain thing for many years. Even some in the fringe-left NDP and some big unions are on board in endorsing tax relief. Or go and visit Ireland, and see how enlightened, modern thinking on economic issues has spurned massive inflows of capital, economic growth, people and industry.
Of course, you have to “want” that.
$88B flees Canada: Taxes blamed as investment in offshore havens soars
OTTAWA – Canadian direct investment in tax havens and other offshore financial centres has soared eight-fold since 1990 to $88-billion in 2003, says a report that has renewed calls for lower taxes to spur investment in this country.The Statistics Canada report, released yesterday, rekindled opposition demands for a crackdown on Canadian firms’ use of offshore financial centres to avoid paying taxes in Canada.
“From 1990 to 2003, Canadian enterprises invested substantial and growing amounts in countries known as ‘Offshore Financial Centres,’ many of them in the Caribbean,” StatsCan said. “These centres include countries that are often referred to as ‘tax havens,’ as well as those which have important financial sectors, such as Switzerland, but also Ireland.”
The largest increases went into Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and Ireland, the five countries being among the 11 nations with the most Canadian assets.
John Williamson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said yesterday the inclusion of Ireland among the top five should send Ottawa a message.
“That is a country that Canada could learn so much from. They pursued a policy of lower taxes to stimulate economic growth and have succeeded to the point that not only is their economy strong, but it is attracting Canadian capital,” he said.
Mr. Williamson noted the Caribbean countries have long attracted foreign investment, because banking is a cornerstone of their economies, but Ireland has a goods-and-services economy similar to Canada’s. “[Ireland] is the one that jumps out on that list…. There’s certainly a lesson for the Canadian government in terms of their tax-and-spend policies.”
Conservative finance critic Monte Solberg said Canada should follow Ireland’s lead and use low taxes to attract investment.
“That’s something we should strive for,” Mr. Solberg said.
Jack Mintz, president and chief executive of the C.D. Howe Institute, said the StatsCan study underscores the reality that “we’re not as attractive enough as a country for foreign investment, and that’s a concern.”
Mr. Mintz said it is not suprising [sic] Canadian investment in tax havens has jumped in recent years, given that Canada has one of the highest corporate tax rates among industrialized countries.
“We have a significant issue that we have to deal with on the tax side to make Canada more attractive,” he said. “We’ve actually created a policy disadvantage for investment in Canada.”
[…] Canada Steamship Lines, formerly owned by Prime Minister Paul Martin, who has now transferred ownership to his sons, has registered ships offshore.
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