With all the Pre-Budget hoopla going around in Ottawa this week, there is one story that isn't getting the attention it deserves.
On Thursday March 21, the Finance Committee studying tax havens will be hearing from Canada's major banks. Half the $160 Billion sitting in tax havens got there through banks and financial companies. Needless to say they have a vested interest.
When they were invited to appear earlier this year, they all demurred and sent someone from the Canadian Bankers Association instead. "Where are the banks?"asked Committee Member Shelley Glover. Indeed.
Because of the budget frenzy it isn't clear if media or many other observers will be in the audience. But C4TF's Dennis Howlett will be there. And you can listen to the proceedings here.
“Canadian banks have subsidiaries in tax havens
all over the world,” he says. "The Royal Bank alone 14
principle subsidiaries in recognized havens. Sending Canadian money offshore is
big business for them and it has been growing every year.”
Bankers need to answer:
• How do they account for the growth in these
secrecy jurisdictions?
• Are bank account owners in havens asked for
the same identification as someone opening an account in Canada?
• Will banks support automatic information
exchange between Canada and havens?
“Multinationals and wealthy individuals seem
willing to pay hefty fees to banks, high-priced tax lawyers and accountants so
they can avoid paying their share of tax to the country where they made that
money,” says Howlett. “Canadians need answers about why banks are so heavily
involved in tax havens and what policies they have in place to ensure their tax
haven subsidiaries are not facilitating tax evasion, organized crime money
laundering and financing terrorism.”