Fashion: Is Gray the New Red?

This is the first part of a series of posts which go together, more or less. See the menu at left.



Is forensic accounting gray overtaking ******* red? I believe there are major career possibilities about to open for anyone who specializes in the accounting areas that will be mentioned, particularly in $$$ laundering for The Department. What precipitated this was an article on the tax department targeting Atlantic Canadians to find more tax money. I will get to it shortly. This is lengthy but there is much that I think is important .



Treasury Agents Needed?

Is it possible that HM's Official Opposition were outgunned because they were facing the current Canadian version of Al Capone and the Chicago mob? Is it also possible that the CPC needs experienced Treasury agents on their team?

How do you have a country of laws when the government breaks the law?--so it is alleged--and it must be true since a fund has been set up to PAY BACK a small part of the proceeds of crime. Are the citizens are so inured to corruption, by virtue of its volume, that they no longer expect any other kind of government?

While it would seem that there is ample scope for The Department to investigate those alluded to above; The Power Behind The Department sends the tax department after people who owe a few hundred bucks, but seem to miss the millions of Liberal Party backers . . . perhaps even including the rich and powerful. Should The Department perhaps consider a few of them?

Take The Man of Concern and Innumerable Priorities, The One who has had ships registered in the Barbados to avoid taxes and use cheap offshore labour. Not only that but, while shipbuilding in Canada has died, the same One has his ships overhauled in Shanghai. (see Canada shipbuilding in Shanghai); also check his declaration of assets for a company that used to be owned--or a portion of which was owned--by him or his sons now, in China. Do they have homes or holiday residences abroad? Are these people the subjects of audits? When any of them holiday abroad, does the holiday money come from Canada or does it come from . . . Well, does it?

You know the answer. This is Canada, where The Power ties the hands of the RCMP and goes after honest farmers and duck hunters to register long guns; meanwhile, there is refusal to show the assault rifle Roszko used to gun down four Mounties. This is Canada, where you'll get a ticket for rolling through a stop sign but nobody notices if, for e.g. you bring in a container load of cocaine, or so deplete security funding and hence manpower, that our borders and ports are open to entry by some of the world's most evil--terrorists and criminals, particularly drug dealers and those who manufacture drugs like crystal meth, a growth industry it seems, in modern Canada. (For an article on Ecstasy, see a post on May 29, 05 and innumerable other posts on the drugs in Canada, the manufacturers and grow-op agribusinesses.)


Now to the reasons for this post:

Federal review urges more money to fight money-laundering criminals, terrorists Sandra Gordon, May 24, 05

OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government will have to spend a lot more money on new tools and training to stay ahead of well-funded criminals and terrorists involved in money-laundering, says an internal review.

Over the past five years, the Canadian government has organized a multi-agency fight against organized crime and money laundering as well as tracking terrorist groups that raise money here, an internal audit prepared for the federal Finance Department says.

But the agencies, including anti-money-laundering body Fintrac, need more resources from Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberal government to keep up with well-financed criminals.

"Organized crime will always expend the resources to ensure access to the most sophisticated information technology to avoid detection and so it is important for Fintrac to have the resources to keep pace with this element," concludes the report, made public following requests under the federal access to information act. [. . . . ]

Search: Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre , "Since 2002-03, Fintrac hasn't had any new funding to update technology" , hamstrung by privacy laws and lack of funding , Fintrac needs at least $10 million , " the agency can basically only pass on so-called "tombstone" data:" [look it up] , Fintrac director Horst Intscher , "in February's federal budget, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said"

Other related agencies mentioned: "Canadian Border Services Agency, Canada Revenue Agency, the RCMP as well as the Justice and Finance departments"




Those #$%$#&^ Maritimers!

They smoke! . . . eat lobster . . sometimes in restaurants . . . may even live in houses lately renovated . . .

Go after them for smoking, if nothing else . . . maybe even on fishing boats. . . perhaps on a reserve or driving in . . .

It's the Atlantic One Smoker Avoiding Taxes is too Many Challenge . . . Get Rick Mercer on the case; it's for The Environment . . . and . . .

If that sounds as if silly season has come, read on; it may make some sense.

Federal tax auditors to target underground economy in Atlantic Canada Dean Beeby, May 22, 2005 via the Taxpayers' Federation -- or the original here

OTTAWA (CP) - Fishermen, natives, waiters and waitresses are the top targets of a renewed effort by the Canada Revenue Agency to catch tax cheats working in Atlantic Canada's underground economy, a new report indicates.

[. . . . ] The December 2004 review, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, examined operations in regional tax offices in Halifax, Saint John, N.B., Moncton, N.B., and Charlottetown.

[. . . . ] The agency is currently ironing out a procedure that will require the Fisheries and Oceans Department to turn over personal information about individual fishermen.

The Privacy Act normally protects such information, but . . . .

The document indicates that auditors will continue to target fraud under the Indian Act, in which non-natives are illegally evading GST and other taxes on the sale of tobacco and other goods.

Auditors will target those who work in residential construction, lobster fishermen and the fishing industry overall and those who work for tips in the hospitality industry Might I suggest The Department aim for a higher income group if they want the real money? .




A diversionary thought:

Maybe the one throwing money at people for votes could send a little grant money down this way? It may be time to help the ones not in designer rags, the ones most likely to be targeted, and least likely to know whom to call . . . if they need a good tax lawyer . . . and, even more likely, least able to afford one.

One member of a targeted group has this suggestion:

"You wants votes? You knows what initiatives are needed. Just you call and we'll talk. No tape recordings . . . danged thing broke down, anyways. It will jest be lil' ole me, waitin' on your hand . . . out . . . up? . . . Oh, and how about an invite to that there Empire Club? You fellers think we're hicks here, but most of us have at least one pair of pretty good sneakers, a clean baseball cap, jeans we can still fit into, and a windbreaker with only a tiny logo and not much grease from workin' under the truck. Maybe one of me relatives has a good black suit. Ah, but the PM is so folksy when he visits near election time; he wouldn't care. Remember, we votes too . . . and we likes to eat. Bring on the grub! . . . Or do you fellers mostly do pot luck? "

Well, there you have it, the view from the East . . . from an ordinary Canadian man on the dock or about to be in the dock, brought to you by a non-CBC affiliate.




Some considerations before including some avenues of potentially more lucrative inquiry for The Department's investigators.

Considering the outrageous costs associated with the gun registry and two new gun registry-level programs? initiatives? boondoggles? associated with cash being frittered away . . . or disappearing in more creative ways? . . . and with the government wasting billions, one might ask the following.

* Who is going to pay for the $4.6 billion added to the Paul Martin budget by the NDP, the save-my-butt-new-and-spend-more-improved budget? And, by the way, NDP leader Jack Layton, instigator of the giveaway, who lived in public housing in Toronto, will be pleased at the new fed-prov. giveaways--initiatives? investments?--for public housing. But do check the likely results.

see the editorial "Public Housing, Private Misery", National Post, May 30, 05; then research the first public housing in the US, Igoe-Pruitt? Igor-Pruitt? Try "air mail" and "blown up". Then there were Cabrini Green in Chicago and others.) There will be added costs down the road for the social services help-for-lost-souls variety. Check the NP for the lineup of "most wanted" in photos. Then there will be the lawsuits over . . . well, check the lineup.

* Who is going to pay for the blank check that Kyoto is going to become?

Note that two of the countries the PM is praising for their forging ahead economically, China and India (see his speech to the Empire club in Toronto), are going to be able to do so, not only with aid currently being given to China for example, but also on the backs of what the citizens of Canada will be paying them in future in the form of Kyoto credits--that is real Canadians' tax $$$. While the science is flawed, the bills will have to be paid, so the Liberals have agreed in their rush to follow the UN's directives about what is 'right' and 'just'. Who makes this up for the UN, incidentally?

Should The Department not look further into government funding flawed science and who benefits? Or would that be one of the inner circle and therefore outside its mandate?

* Who is going to pay for the burgeoning costs of daycare?

Think regulations, regulators, inspectors, curricula, curricula developers, supervisors . . . to say nothing of equipment, training, . . . and on and on. Think of the potential for, down the road, claims of abuse -- claims that may come about as individuals grow up and determine that government has ruined their lives by taking them away from their mommies who couldn't stay at home because they had to go out to work to earn the $$$ to pay taxes for . . . more of the same. There are precedents for lawsuits; think of the natives . . . loss of culture . . . lifestyle . . .

Thanks to other people's efforts come the following.

The wealthiest Canadians like the Liberals the most

Read on and you may find out why.

"widows and orphans" posted May 20, 2005

Along the same lines as I talked about here, Richard Gwyn notices the following:

. . . EKOS poll. . . those Canadians who really need to be shared with don't look to the Liberals as their saviours.

Rather, the Liberals do best among those Canadians for whom, in personal terms, the $21 billion or so of pre-election spending that Martin has engaged in these last few weeks is largely irrelevant.

... But then there is one stunning finding: The wealthiest Canadians like the Liberals the most.

... The national Liberal vote, remember, is 35 per cent. In all income categories, though, their vote share is less than this — with one exception. Among Canadians who earn $100,000 or more, support for the Liberals is at a whopping 48 per cent.

By contrast, among the poorest — those with earnings of less than $20,000 — support for the Liberals is at a lowly 29 per cent.

The Liberals, in fact, as opposed to perception, thus are essentially the party of corporate lawyers and of a few others who are hacking their way through the jungle of life with fair success [emphasis added].

Oligarchs lovingly supported by their enabling class. How touching.

Friendship, an enduring value.




Brush up on your accounting skills; do we have a job for you!

Revenue Canada - International Tax Directorate: Human Resource Management

24.13 The Directorate includes four divisions: International Audit; Non-Resident Assessing and Withholding; Transfer Pricing and Competent Authority; and International Tax Strategy Exhibit 24.1 shows how the Directorate's staff are deployed throughout Revenue Canada and summarizes the responsibilities of its four divisions. [. . . . ]

The Directorate Has Not Developed a Comprehensive Staffing Strategy [. . . . ]

24.43 While these actions address some of the problems outlined in paragraph 24.41, we are concerned that they are only a piecemeal solution rather than part of a comprehensive human resource plan. This is particularly worrisome because the Directorate is planning to increase its staff at headquarters by 60 percent - from 80 people to 129 people - within the next seven months.

Conclusion and Recommendations

24.44 Our review of the International Tax Directorate's management of human resources identified problems that limit its ability to discharge its responsibilities and to manage the inherent risk to Canada's tax base caused by international transactions. Despite having recognized these problems for a number of years, the Directorate is still developing a comprehensive human resource plan and strategies linked to its business plan for the next few years.

24.45 During September and October 1998, the Directorate initiated a number of actions that it expects will address certain identified problems. However, this is only a piecemeal solution and it does not deal with the underlying problem.

24.46 In our view, failure to take urgent action on these matters will severely limit Revenue Canada's ability to manage the risks to Canada's tax base that international transactions represent.

24.47 If Parliament approves the establishment of the proposed new Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, the Department will become a separate employer and assume most of the responsibility for human resource management currently shared with central agencies. In the absence of a comprehensive human resource plan and strategies linked to the Directorate's business plan, the establishment of the new agency will not in itself resolve the problems outlined in this chapter. It is important that the analysis, planning and implementation of needed human resource initiatives be carried out as soon as possible to ensure that the Directorate can act appropriately to protect Canada's tax base.

24.48 Revenue Canada should ensure that the International Tax Directorate:

* develops a comprehensive human resource management plan that is linked to its business plan;

* develops and implements a comprehensive staffing strategy to ensure that it has a full complement of staff with the continuity, qualifications, job performance and quality standards that are essential to carrying out its responsibilities; and

* has a human resource information system that provides reliable information on key processes such as staffing, classification and performance.

Canada Customs and Revenue Agency — Taxing International Transactions of Canadian Residents: Conclusion

4.27 A project originally identified as needing significant resources for 2002-03 was the completion of the audit of income of taxpayers involved in foreign trusts. The foreign trust project was initiated in 1999 and the resources currently allocated to the project are based on an estimate that there was $400 million in additional income to be reassessed in Canada in relation to specific offshore trusts, and the associated Canadian taxpayers which were selected for audit. The results to date show that fewer than 60 percent of the completed audits have resulted in non-compliance being identified. Other files are still under audit.

4.28 However, the Agency does not yet have a final position on reassessing the Barbados spousal trusts we noted in our 2001 Report, Chapter 7, International Tax Administration: Non-Residents Subject to Canadian Income Tax. International audit staff which were allocated to this task are not trained to enable them to complete this project work in 2002-03.

[. . . . ]

4.40 In December 1997 we were asked by the Governor General in Council to examine the requirement to report specified foreign property over $100,000. In our Report of June 1998, Examination of the Requirements to Report Specified Foreign Property Under Section 233.3 of the Income Tax Act, . . . .

4:51 [. . . . ] Obtaining foreign-based information from taxpayers in a timely way is essential

4.52 Audit files show that international auditors experience difficulties in getting requested documents, and answers to their queries from taxpayers. Taxpayers often claim that the required documents are kept outside the country, and are unavailable, or are covered by secrecy provisions of the foreign jurisdictions. Many of the audits of large corporations we reviewed were done under an agreement signed by the taxpayer, which defined response times for providing information. In these cases, the time that the taxpayer took to provide information was much longer than agreed. We have observed cases where answers to queries are incomplete after a year. [. . . . ]

4.53 We have observed that the exchange of information provisions under the tax treaties, which Canada has signed, with 75 countries have not been used frequently. Auditors generally request the information directly from the taxpayer but often did not receive the needed information. A request for information from a treaty partner according to the terms of the treaty generally was not issued when taxpayers did not reply.

[. . . . ] 4.55 One of the underlying reasons for audit delays in the past may have been that experienced economists were not available [. . . . ]

Good global business knowledge is important [. . . . ]

4.68 Better assessment of the risk of taxpayers not complying with the tax rules on international transactions is needed to determine what compliance work should be undertaken in order to provide an adequate check on the assessment of tax revenue. The International Tax Directorate and other areas of the Compliance Programs Branch could reduce the time over which audits of international issues are completed by strengthening their ability to provide advice on international business practice and economic analysis earlier in the audit process. The international audit program needs better information on the resources used to complete the audit of international issues, the tax reassessed, and the issues identified in reassessments to determine its future resource requirements and program directions.

4.69 The Agency must find ways to improve the international audit program's human resource capability at a faster rate, and explore ways to ensure that complex international audits are completed. In the Toronto area where 40 percent of large corporations file their tax returns, economic conditions have made recruiting and retaining international auditors difficult. The current staffing and level of training activities may not be able to address this problem. In some tax services offices over one-third of the international audit staff have less than one year's experience, and still require some training. Other staff, including some auditors of large corporations and auditors of small and medium businesses who were recruited without previous international tax experience still require basic international tax training

[. . . . ] Related audit work

See also Chapter 11, Other Audit Observations, Department of Finance: Tax arrangements for foreign affiliates have eroded Canadian tax revenues of hundreds of millions of dollars over the last ten years.

Laundering the Proceeds of Crime

3.20 Canadian law does not define money laundering; rather the Criminal Code defines the offence of laundering the proceeds of crime; the Code and other federal acts define the criminal activities that produce the proceeds of crime.

* A laundering offence is any act to disguise the source of money or assets by a person who knows or believes that they were obtained from certain forms of criminal activity in Canada or abroad.

* These criminal activities include drug trafficking, bribery, fraud, forgery, murder, robbery, counterfeiting money, and manipulating stock prices.

Offence: Laundering the proceeds of crime

462.31 (1) Every one commits an offence who uses, transfers the possession of, sends or delivers to any person or place, transports, transmits, alters, disposes of or otherwise deals with, in any manner and by any means, any property or any proceeds of any property with intent to conceal or convert that property or those proceeds, knowing or believing that all or a part of that property or of those proceeds was obtained or derived directly or indirectly as a result of

(a) the commission in Canada of a designated offence; or

(b) an act or omission anywhere that, if it had occurred in Canada, would have constituted a designated offence.

Punishment

(2) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1)

(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or

(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

It appears that, while these reports were available (1998 - 2002), not much has been done since. FINTRAC has been requesting at least enough money to keep them abreast of the sophisticated ones advising the ones whom The Department might be more fruitfully employed in investigating. Meanwhile, it has been simpler to pick off the low-hanging fruit in Atlantic Canada than to reach up up up into the trees . . . perhaps to find the really lucious fruit exposed to more expensive rays . . . and so the Sponsorship mob lived high off the hog on Canadians' tax monies.




A few suggestions follow for potentially more revenue-productive, if not "Lifestyles of the Rich and Connected" pleasant avenues of enquiry.

There were the witnesses before the Gomery Inquiry, Mr. Boulay and his wife, Diane Deslauriers.

Try to find more information than was in this post, Claude Boulay's mansion on the US Eastern Seaboard which is in North Carolina(?) and is owned by a Bahamian company; yet Mr. Boulay and Ms. Deslauriers have been able to live in it. The news item on their fortuitous rental--if rental it is--was in the May 7, 05 National Post. (no link have I found) Diane is the superb fundraiser for the Liberals whom Canada's PM praised so lavishly, causing much faux-mirth in the House.

If the same people who are about to target the just-getting-by Maritimers were to look into what seems like a housing perq, at least the search would prove more visually pleasing, given Canadians' penchant for watching the lifestyles of the wealthy as a form of entertainment. Likely, The Department would enjoy the prowl through the trappings of wealth in that investigation more than they would the low-end meander through their current targets' lives which, generally, are considerably meaner. . . . in the sense that the only yacht may be the dory or old rowboat used by the men when they go fishing . . . and the resident 'feminist' is too busy keeping things together to protest that her life has been put on hold by babies, baking bread and hanging out clothes because . . . well, it's always been that way down East.

An investigation of the Boulay-Deslauriers crowd might trigger "privacy concerns" on the part of those who live in the same manner. Fortunately, for those charged with Departmental investigations of the poorer citizens, there are few "privacy concerns" associated with the lower end of the income spectrum. Undoubtedly, it would be more difficult to go after those who have achieved the perquisites and trappings of wealth than it would be to target the Maritimers who, most not having cottages, second houses or holiday rental properties, are likely to be home . . . and also less likely to have high priced international advisors, lawyers . . . and shredders.




Then there are the Champagnes

I believe the Turks and Caicos is a tax haven. How much effort has gone into getting to the bottom of people who used to work at DND? (I think they did, or they contracted for the DND. Search.) It used to be that working for government or a branch which, in the end, lives on government funds, meant a steady and respectable salary, though never getting rich. Of course, these people may have contracted with government which is an entirely different kettle of fish.

Canada's DND, the Computers, Hewlett Packard, the Champagnes and the Turks and Caicos -- the original article -- or an excerpt here -- or a bit here



There are others unearthed by the Gomery Inquiry

Surely, they deserve the same attention as those who squirrel away waitressing tips.

Harper & Ablonczy Vindicated -- Scott Brison has to admit it was not an audit -- Search "off-book cash transactions"
Below it is a link to Liberals carried out review, not audit -- 'Misleading Canadians' Anne Dawson, CanWest, Apr. 13, 05

The same webpage, Frost Hits the Rhubarb, April 13, 05 has a link to Ottawa gave Quebec ski resort $100M in grants over decade

Why are Canadians financing this? And do they have extraordinarily rich or well-appointed homes somewhat out of keeping with their salaries? On $100-million, undoubtedly, there is need for entertaining business clients in a style to which we would all like to become accustomed . . . so there might be something of interest.

Just how does one business get public money while another does not -- and may even go under because of the government funded competition? Do you suppose the governments' own activities contribute to the underground economy?




Harmony to have China flights -- given permission -- one month after Ottawa and China signed a new bilateral air services agreement -- Air Canada adds five more flights a week between Toronto and Beijing Financial Post, May 19, 05




Red alert Kevin Libin, 30 May 2005

Forgive us if we're a bit late coming to the party. For months now, Canada's business magazines and financial pages have been covering the emergence of China . . . .

[. . . ] But when business reporters look at China, it's strictly in terms of trade. What's missing from the breathless coverage of this hyperdriven economy is a critical look at the powers that control Chinese commerce--from the top down. And despite all appearances of being a modern, westernized economy, Chinese enterprises are still all under the thumb of the Communists--and the revenues that Beijing earns from exploiting its citizens, including the use of prisoners as slave labourers, are what allow them to swallow up multibillion-dollar corporations in one gulp.

Trading with Chinese businesses means dealing with tyrants who . . . . .

[. . . . ] Canada isn't selling arms to China, but by encouraging them to help themselves to our oil and resources, and allowing them to buy up strategic Canadian assets, we are providing them with infrastructure that's every bit as critical. Why are we so keen to help China . . . . .

Check out the rest, the cover story, and then roam around a fine website.




Exit strategy Mark Steyn, 13 June 2005

The Liberal Party of Canada” isn’t the catchiest name for a Quebec biker gang. On the other hand, it’s no more clunkily uncool than, say, the Rock Machine or any of the province’s other biker gangs. The Liberal party is certainly a machine and it’s proving harder to crack than most rocks, and it’s essentially engaged in the same activities as the other biker gangs: the Grits launder money; they enforce a ruthless code of omerta when fainthearted minions threaten to squeal; they threaten to whack their enemies; they keep enough cash on hand in small bills of non-sequential serial numbers to be able to deliver suitcases with a couple hundred grand hither and yon; and they sluice just enough of the folding stuff around law enforcement agencies to be assured of co-operation. [ . . . . ]

Search: in Shawinigan , the Chrétien–Martin Crock Machine

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