Thank you very much.
I would like to talk about something Mr. Wrobel said. We have been talking about tax evasion. I think we all understand the difference now between tax evasion, tax planning and tax avoidance. I think it is clear.
Tax evasion involves various methods or options. The transfer to a foreign account of over $10 000 is reported. We understand that. However there are many different ways to transfer money to an area with legislation that allows the use of a tax haven. This includes, among other things, transfer prices.
So the problem is serious. One can't simply state that a transfer of $10 000, $100 000 or $1 million is reported. Furthermore, many transactions are illegitimate and others are less so. Tax evasion is illegal. I think that the majority of Canadians feel that using tax havens is immoral. Given that one of the principles underlying the Canadian tax system is fairness, everyone paying their fair share, Canadians in general do pay their fair share and they want everyone to pay their fair share. I think one has to be cautious when providing answers.
I would like to talk about something that was only briefly raised by my colleague about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in the United States, the FATCA. This is fairly controversial. I believe this was mentioned by most speakers. The Canadian Bankers Association is opposed to it, and understandably so. The main reason is that this is a unilateral action.
Could we use the FATCA's principles? It should be acknowledged that this is one of the first serious attempts to deal with the issue. If we were to take some of the main elements of the FATCA and apply them in a multilateral fashion, would that be an acceptable way of dealing efficiently with this plague?
I am putting the questions to all our witnesses, beginning with Mr. Wrobel.