Taxing Investment trusts

[The phantorino]

Of course it's a good idea, because otherwise, there wouldn't be enough taxation dollars moving to Government, but didn't Harp say they WOULD NOT do this?
Chrsit, I know it's an election promise, but what's next, I wonder? I'm going to move my over/under to EARLY September for the next election.

[Canadian]

Another election promise broken.

Conservatives went to man in black and great lengths for income-trust secret

Cryptic e-mails, cellphone confiscations, and a no-nonsense security agent in a black suit helped Prime Minister Stephen Harper keep a tight lid on his income-trust announcement.

Determined not to repeat the fiasco that led to allegations of insider trading and an RCMP criminal investigation under the Liberals, Harper waited until the last possible moment to inform his staff Tuesday.

A vague e-mail summoned them to a 4:30 p.m. meeting but said nothing about changes to the tax code that would instantly shave billions off the value of income trusts.

Staff were merely instructed to turn up immediately at the sandstone building across from Parliament that houses the prime minister's office.

"Please be at the Langevin building for a meeting," said the laconic missive from Ian Brodie, Harper's chief of staff.

They still had no idea what was going on when they arrived at the fourth-floor boardroom of the elegant old building overlooking Wellington Street.

But it was obvious something was brewing when they encountered the man in black.

A security guard in a black suit blocked the hallway path toward the meeting room and stopped everyone on the way in with an unusual request.

"We need all your electronic devices," he told the prime minister's staff.

"Blackberries, cellphones, all your electronic devices."

When one staffer protested that he was trying to fire off an e-mail and needed to keep his BlackBerry, the man in black was unmoved.

"You can't go into that meeting with your BlackBerry."

Inside the boardroom, Brodie was surrounded by senior Finance Department officials, a few PMO staffers, and the country's top civil servant, Privy Council clerk Kevin Lynch.

Man, what a paranoid guy that Harper is. That sounds like something you would see in the movies.

You can read the rest here


Angry seniors feel betrayed

On paper, former hospital janitor Ron Cann is down about $18,000, which is more than he earns in a year. Noel Chaney of Vancouver Island estimates he lost about $65,000 and has started to think about selling his house. David and Lorraine Marshall of Cornwall stand to lose about $100,000, and that's enough to make David regret every lawn sign he pounded into the ground for the Conservatives in the last election.

"The big thing is they lied to us," said Marshall, a former trucker, of the government's decision to tax income trusts, a popular investment vehicle among retirees. "I worked for the candidate here, putting lawn signs up and all those things based on this one issue, income trusts.

"They said they wouldn't touch it. This is completely out of the blue."

Read the rest here

Yup I would agree Rev, this could be a bigger issue than I originally figured. So many seniors (and others) are going to be "pissed off" over this.

I saw that too on Newsworld about the NEP reference.

It sure seems Harper has pretty well ticked off large portions of each segment of society since he came to power.

This will be another piece of ammo for people to use against the Conservatives come next election. I also would wager that Dec 2005 clip where Harper says he won't touch income trusts will be played too.

These clowns are really fun to watch as they seem to be really shooting themselves in the foot of late.

I think they will be hard pressed to get 100-105 seats come next election. The mid 90's is where I think they will finish.

[Canadian]

Citizen's group files complaint with ethics commissioner over income trusts

Saying that politicians should have to undergo lie-detector tests during election campaigns, a citizen's watchdog group has filed a complaint with Ottawa's ethics commissioner over the taxing income trusts.

Duff Conacher, the co-ordinator of Democracy Watch, says Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives clearly broke a campaign promise when they proceeded to tax the lucrative trusts Oct. 31.

During last winter's election, the Tories pledged not to do that and the embarrassing retreat forced Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to apologize to Canadians last week.

Given his poor track record at holding politicians accountable, Conacher says he doubts the ethics commissioner will take serious action.

If that's the case, he says his group is ready to fight the matter in court.

Federal ethics rules require politicians to act with honesty and integrity - something Conacher says has been violated in the income trust matter.

I doubt anything will come out of this either, but we all know Harper is a liar now.

Link