Article posted on LinkedIN, April 8, 2016
I know, what’s with St-Arnaud ? This is his second Post in as many days.
Well, when I see something that I consider an injustice to our Global Village… I do get carried away.
So what can we expect from our societies’ leaders now that the Panama Papers have exploded onto most media outlets, traditional offline ones and online social media ?
How’s about bigger fish, that big ?
Two articles caught my eye today as I contemplated these “taxing times”.
One was an interview of Canada’s Finance Minister Morneau by CBC’s Metro Morning host Matt Galloway yesterday (April 7, Thursday). The program was 13:44 long and was to be about the Liberal’s new budget and recent reactions by stakeholders and the public.
The host diverted on a tangent, sort of, and says early in the program (00:37) that “the majority” of Canadians mentioned in the Panama Papers are simply “acting within existing laws”, that these offshore tax haven venues are permitted under current tax laws.
Part of the dialogue, from 02:34 to 07:43, is available as a transcript on the CBC’s website along with the complete audio interview. Should the page disappear, here is a “stripped copy” of that page... and transcript.
The second is an Analysis date April 8th by Don Pittis of CBC News. The title is rather blunt: “Panama schemes mean the ordinary wage-earner gets stuck paying the taxes.” Check out our “stripped copy”.
As the author says, “Paying your taxes used to be a moral duty, but primed by growing anti-tax rhetoric, the moral rules have changed. As tax avoidance becomes more respectable and its legal methods more labyrinthine, governments are going after the soft option, ignoring the hard nuts to focus on taxing the average shmo.” That’s the word the rich use to describe someone who is “beneath them”. And therein lies a major problem. “Attacking" the average Joe-Jane means less money in their pockets, which leads to “tightening the belt”, which leads to no money for savings and often no money for “enjoyments”… not even for children's necessities and certainly not for retirement. Simple market demand and production: no money to buy >> no production >> less profits >> financial and economic crisis… again !
A good solution would seem to be to reduce taxes on the middle-class.
But wait, there's more !
With even Don Pittis stating that “corporations have become huger and less nationally attached. They manufacture or buy parts in many places around the world while being able to run much of their day-to-day operations — telemarketing, billing, IT, administration — anywhere there are computers. National residency becomes a mere formality.”
How much money are we talking about ?
Check out the CBC’s News World expose titled “Panama Papers only a glimpse into 'astonishing' wealth stashed offshore” whose sub-title “Some estimates suggest between 8 and 14 per cent of global wealth is kept (hidden) in tax havens” says it all. Check out our “stripped copy”.
Who is using these offshore tax havens venues ? Some are legal, and traceable, but others are deliberately set up to hide the owners wealth from prying eyes. Check out another CBC analysis titled “Big names implicated in Panama Papers offshore banking leak”. Or click here to see our “stripped copy”.
So the solution is what ?
Once again bring out complex changes that only corporate lawyers can understand, or even worse, that they recommend, with new loopholes, to ministers during supposed “fundraiser” events such as the justice minister’s recent $500-a-plate event at a law firm, a corporate entity ? Any fool can see that it was the company that paid each individual staff’s “contribution”. Grand total certainly way over the maximum $1,525 allowed for individuals, including corporate institutions (firms) “under the law”. Can anyone spell “unofficial special interest group”. Check out our “stripped copy”.
“The staggering power of that kind of (corporate) money to buy accounting expertise, to lobby governments at home and abroad, to get the best legal help or even to hire the best crooked help” says Don Pittis, makes this kind of solution simple “double speak”… as in double standards, with the average citizens not being able to find, let alone afford, such expertise to do the same.
The solution ?
A simple tax for all, whether wealthy or poor individuals, or corporate entities that are supposed to be treated as “individuals” under the law ! No more loopholes, no more deductions that only the rich can afford. But keep business expenses, real expenses that create tangible results, to encourage economic growth and potential prosperity for more people, not less people with more wealth.
By the way, this is not only in Canada, eh ! Check out the in-depth reviews of the impact of these Panama Papers on the global stage... as in not the Global Village.
So, now that I’ve said my piece, I’ll just…
No way ! See you soon !