The recent signing of a Canada-US agreement on how FATCA is to be enforced in Canada is a half a loaf at best. The Canadian Banker's Association (CBA) has stated that the agreement is an improvement of what was to be an intolerable situation but only an improvement. "Canada is not a tax haven for US citizens", it said. (Consider the US citizen that wins a Canadian lottery--taxable in the US and not taxable in Canada. I am certain that the funds would be safely invested in Canada--but that's another story).
So, information on bank accounts (with the now exception of many tax free accounts such as RRSPs and TFSAs) owned by US citizens or those who were born in the US will be collected (at a huge cost) and sent to our friendly CRA where the information will be shared with the IRS. An improvement? This changes the role of the CRA from tax collector to inquisitor or agent of the IRS. Still, in my view, an attack on our sovereignty.
What the Finance Minister should have said was that the IRS should take a hike with respect to Canadian enforcement. But how could it do so in the face of impending approval/non approval of the Keystone pipeline. Not a change. Uncle Sam says "jump" and Canada says "how high".
No comments:
Post a Comment