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Results: 76 - 85 of 85
View Elizabeth May Profile
GP (BC)
View Elizabeth May Profile
2020-04-29 16:30 [p.2259]
Mr. Speaker, just to put it on the record, the Green Party would have been very happy to give unanimous consent, had there been enough others to do so. The Green Party has been calling for a guaranteed livable income for two decades now, and we will continue to do so.
I would like to put it to the hon. member that I agree with the proposition that we should not be providing COVID relief to corporations that hide their money in offshore accounts, but I can see the issue with saying that their workers cannot get the 75% wage benefit.
I note that some NGOs that work in this area, Tax Fairness for example, are saying that there are other things that could be targeted besides all COVID relief programs. I suggest, for instance, that corporate stock bailouts not be allowed and that executive bonuses, golden parachutes and shareholder dividends be held off for a full year.
For any corporation that hides its money offshore but also receives COVID benefits, we could also look at an excess profits tax to recoup those benefits. Although I agree totally, on principle, that companies that hide their money offshore and evade taxes should not be able to benefit from COVID-19 relief measures, the problem is that their workers should.
I would ask the hon. member what he would propose and whether we can find another solution.
View Jagmeet Singh Profile
NDP (BC)
View Jagmeet Singh Profile
2020-04-29 16:32 [p.2259]
Mr. Speaker, we could absolutely solve this problem.
First, if a company right now is registered in an offshore tax haven and wants government support, it can commit to removing its money from that offshore tax haven and putting it back into the public. It can commit to contributing its fair share. With that ironclad commitment, it can receive support.
In addition, we need to make sure that any support we deliver is guaranteed to go to workers. We do not want a situation in which a company receives a blank cheque. We have seen the Conservatives do that in the past, during the 2007-08 crisis, when companies received billions of dollars of public money, only to shut down their factories and move them to other jurisdictions while jobs were lost in Canada.
There should never be, in any sector, a blank cheque given to any corporation. Corporations should be required to have ironclad agreements that the support will go directly to maintaining or creating jobs, hiring people in the country where that support is given.
View Alexandre Boulerice Profile
NDP (QC)
Madam Chair, the crisis that we are going through also presents opportunities for transformation and profound change. Everyone is working hard and pitching in to find solutions and get through this together. Of course, I am thinking of those who work in the health, agriculture and food industries, as well as truckers, among others.
Everyone is making an effort, except for a few big corporations that cheat and do not pay their fair share. They hide their millions and their profits in the Cayman Islands or Barbados. These big tax havens are costing us billions of dollars at a time when we are in dire need of these resources to be able to provide services and fund all these new programs.
There are people who have set up small parallel systems and do not pay their taxes in Canada. The good news today is that two countries, Denmark and Poland, have announced that no company that hides its profits and millions of dollars in tax havens will get any help from the government. The NDP believes that this makes sense in the current circumstances.
My question is simple. If Denmark and Poland are able to do it, why would Canada not be able to do it too?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Mona Fortier Profile
2020-04-20 17:27 [p.2215]
Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.
The government has invested billions of dollars in fighting tax avoidance and tax havens, and we will continue to do so.
In fact, we have made a choice. We have chosen to create an emergency economic plan to help workers and Canadians in this crisis. We have created a number of programs, we have expanded them, and we will continue to improve them in order to ensure that we put workers and Canadians first.
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
2020-04-20 18:28 [p.2225]
Madam Chair, Denmark and other countries have decided not to help companies that use tax havens.
In Canada, the House of Commons is taking unprecedented measures to provide income support to individuals and businesses. We obviously agree with this, and we are happy to be able to make suggestions on how to improve those measures. In exchange, however, we expect everyone to collaborate.
Unfortunately, large companies like Toronto's big banks are not collaborating, because they are avoiding tax by using tax havens, which enable them to get out of paying the taxes they owe. Sadly for us, what they are doing is perfectly legal.
I would have liked to ask the government if it is planning to make the use of tax havens illegal, but we are coming out of a briefing with the Minister of Finance in which he seemed to close the door on that idea. Why?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Mona Fortier Profile
2020-04-20 18:29 [p.2225]
Madam Chair, I thank my parliamentary colleague for asking that question and suggesting ideas. Right now, as we know, the government is investing billions of dollars in fighting tax evasion and tax havens. In the last few weeks, we have decided to focus on workers and Canadians with our emergency economic response plan.
We are going to keep improving it, and we are going to keep talking with our hon. colleagues to find solutions.
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
2020-04-20 18:29 [p.2225]
Madam Chair, I would like to remind the minister that the money brought forward is to fight tax evasion, which is illegal. I was talking about tax avoidance, which is being used legally by the big banks. I will give a figure that goes quite a way back, to 2007. The big five Bay Street banks alone saved $2.7 billion, just in 2007, by using completely legal tax havens.
That is still going on, but we no longer have the numbers. At the time, the banks were required to disclose this information. Following the crisis of the last decade, that requirement was dropped. Tax avoidance through tax havens was legalized by obscure regulations in the federal Income Tax Act. It was not even legislation passed in the House, just regulations that were added later. These regulations are in section 5907 and are potentially inconsistent with the act. Using tax havens for such purposes is really not consistent with the act.
To correct the situation, the government does not even need to bring the matter before the House; it only has to amend its regulations to restore a little justice. As we know, Ottawa provides the banks with a great deal of assistance. Just look at the billions of dollars in cash or the possible repurchase of devalued assets.
Why is the government not instead prohibiting them from avoiding taxes through tax havens?
View Mona Fortier Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Mona Fortier Profile
2020-04-20 18:31 [p.2226]
Madam Chair, once again, I thank my hon. colleague for his suggestions.
At this time, we have really focused on developing an economic response plan to help workers and Canadians in this crisis situation. I will have a discussion with the Minister of Finance so that we can find solutions as we move forward in this time of crisis.
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
2020-04-11 17:27 [p.2151]
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie for his fine, heartfelt speech.
He talked about inequality. He also referred to something that I see as a problem and that is the huge profits that banks are making and the use of tax havens. In order to reduce inequality during this crisis, the government is going to inject huge amounts of cash into the banking system. It might even buy troubled assets to help the banks.
Does my colleague believe that, in return, the big banks should contribute by putting an end to their lawful use of tax havens to avoid paying taxes in Canada?
View Alexandre Boulerice Profile
NDP (QC)
Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent suggestion.
Sometimes there is a completely indecent accrual of profit and capital, while there are people living in poverty who do not have the bare minimum they need to survive.
It is a give and take. If the government helps banks to prevent too much bankruptcy and job loss, then I think that the banks should stop coming up with ways to send their profits and their CEOs' money to tax havens so that they do not have to pay taxes in Canada. We need that money to pay for the social safety net that we were talking about earlier.
I think that any assistance, particularly for large industries like that one and the oil and gas industry, should come with conditions so that we all come out on top in the end.
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