The proposed tax credit attempts to pay back the corporate business taxes to the people who own the corporations in their RRSPs. It's attempting to have both corporations and business tax, not withholding taxes in the form of business taxes. In my opinion, we're essentially reversing where we are on the income trust tax plan. It's also contrary to the treatment of master limited partnerships in the United States. They go the opposite way. When master limited partnerships are owned in an IRA, the shareholder has to pay a tax in order that they are not unfairly advantaged relative to the corporation. So I don't support the tax credit proposed.
If anything were done at all, it would be done the other way. It would be to find some way of record keeping for the dividends and the post-2011 distributions and give it the preferential tax treatment. That way there is less leakage to the government and it would achieve the same end. That's a policy decision.