Finance committee  I'm obviously not an expert on Canadian tax policy, but I can measure the impact of tax policy based on the somewhat anecdotal evidence of who calls us for legal advice and what problems they have. We have seen a significant uptick in the number of cross-border family issues, for

Finance committee  I think in Canada--I'm siding a little bit with Mr. Sohmer--there were enforcement developments. You had very public data theft that occurred; that was big news. I think there's been some publicity in Canada about the voluntary disclosure program itself. Let me say that professi

Finance committee  Absolutely.

Finance committee  Yes. Based on the publicly available charging documents and stories that we've heard from our clients, what appears to have happened was this. American law changed in approximately 2000-01, and Americans who had accounts at UBS were approached--in Switzerland, by the way, in the

Finance committee  Absolutely. I disagree a bit with my colleague Mr. Sohmer. I do think that bank secrecy--at least for Americans--is becoming a thing of the past. In addition to these efforts by the joint task force, you now have a whistle-blower office in the Internal Revenue Service that encour

Finance committee  I think aggressive enforcement will lead people to come in and make disclosures and will deter tax evasion. In the context of voluntary disclosure, I think it's a difficult balance to strike as to where and how people are penalized, because you want to set a penalty at a level h

Finance committee  I think that trend is being reversed slightly. Within the last three or four years, I think countries have been afraid of being put on the OECD grey list and black list. For example, you saw Switzerland adopt, at least with the United States, a new protocol on information exchang

Finance committee  I would say that being nice to people in a voluntary disclosure is only part of an effective enforcement system. You've got to be aggressive in enforcing the law against tax cheats. That's what brings people in to make voluntary disclosures.

Finance committee  I would say that relying on voluntary disclosure without some fairly strong enforcement at the same time would only give you half a loaf; that if voluntary disclosure is accompanied by aggressive enforcement, if the CRA has resources such as were given to the IRS to go after UBS

Finance committee  In part I am, but also those outside the VDP.

Finance committee  In the United States you have 300 million people who probably file, altogether, half a billion tax returns a year—corporate, individual, and so forth. The government prosecutes only a thousand people criminally. Now, in my judgment, if you wanted to have an increased deterrent

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am honoured to be a guest of your committee to share my thoughts about issues concerning offshore banking, tax enforcement, and voluntary disclosure. I intend to very briefly shed some light on the American experience in this area over the last three