But I appreciate your opinion. It means a lot. I think a lot of Canadians might agree with you.
In an article in The Globe and Mail last November, Jack Layton was quoted as citing a Université de Montréal study. It was entitled:
Les banques canadiennes et l’évasion fiscale dans les paradis fiscaux - 16 milliards de dollars d’impôts éludés.
That was from Léo-Paul Lauzon and Marc Hasbani.
He incorrectly suggested that “Canada's Big Five banks avoided paying $16-billion in income taxes between 1992 and 2008.” In that article, CBA's vice-president of communications, Robin Walsh, was quoted as describing the study as being “discredited by leading tax experts”. He stated quite clearly that:
Some foreign-earned profits and dividends are exempt from taxation in Canada because they have already been taxed elsewhere: otherwise these profits would be taxed twice.
Tell me what you think of this suggestion that the banks avoided paying $16 billion in income taxes. We believe that's incorrect, and I'd like your opinion on that.