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Letter: Wealthiest Canadians still winning

Kelowna letter writer says proposed tax changes are not the way to go
8737639_web1_letter-to-the-editor-TEASER

To the editor:

So the Liberal tax fairness legislation will only tax the wealthiest Canadians, eh.

Well Mr. Justin Trudeau’s family wealth is largely not touched by this legislation, yet he has minimally taxed incomes from many sources including a family trust that received a $1,000,000 donation from a wealthy foreign company that would be taxed at 50 per cent were it not for the trust.

Besides that one donation there are thousands of smaller amounts escaping tax through a loophole only used by the wealthy. Mr. Morneau and his wife Nancy McCain (of McCain’s French Fry business conglomerate) are also the beneficiary of large family fortunes; also managed by private bankers, working with the best and most experienced tax accountants and tax lawyers, only available to the ultra-rich, whose hourly rate charged to clients, exceeds the weekly wages of most Canadians.

For the most part these generous tax provisions are continuing to let the top one per cent continue to use trusts, off-shore tax havens, and a myriad of other tax avoidance techniques to avoid paying their fair share. However every other category of Canadian will therefore be paying more tax than their fair share to help the elite within the Canadian classes minimize their taxes; that is not tax fairness it is simply the same old same old, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

Doug Waines, CPA (CA), West Kelowna