Mr. Chairman and committee members, thank you for the invitation to appear before you concerning part 5 of Bill C-31.
The Canadian Council of Chief Executives represents 150 chief executives and leading entrepreneurs in all sectors and regions of the country. Our member companies collectively administer $4.5 trillion in assets, employ more than 1.4 million people, and are responsible for the majority of Canada's private sector exports, investment, and training.
The CCCE supports the government's decision to enter into an intergovernmental tax information sharing arrangement with the U.S. The agreement will ensure that Canadians are not exposed to punitive U.S. withholding taxes on income from their investments under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA. Fortunately for the overwhelming majority of Canadian account holders, the agreement will have no impact on how they deal with their financial institutions.
The CCCE is of the view that Canada should have been exempt from the FATCA. Canada is not a tax haven, and has a good reputation for sharing information that assists other governments in collecting their taxes. Unfortunately, an exemption from FATCA was not considered.
Without this exemption, obligations to comply with FATCA would have been unilaterally and automatically imposed on Canadian financial institutions and their clients. This would have required Canadian financial institutions to sign agreements with the Internal Revenue Service under which they would have to identify their U.S. account holders and report directly to the IRS. If a Canadian financial institution did not comply with reporting requirements, the financial institution and its clients would be exposed to punitive U.S. withholding taxes of 30% on income from their investments. This would also mean that non-compliant financial institutions could no longer do business in U.S. capital markets or with any institution that does business in U.S. capital markets.
Given the size and importance of the Canada-U.S. relationship, non-compliance was simply not an option. Canada cannot risk our partnership with the U.S., which has delivered enormous benefits to both countries over many decades.
Canada is not alone in negotiating an intergovernmental agreement with the U.S. The U.S. has engaged in negotiations with over 80 countries to reach intergovernmental agreements, and 32 other countries have signed such agreements.
The agreement is consistent with the government's support for recent G-8 and G-20 commitments intended to fight tax evasion globally. G-20 leaders have committed to the automatic exchange of tax information as the new global standard, and endorsed a proposal by the OECD to develop a global model for the automatic exchange of tax information. The OECD has also signaled an intention to begin exchanging information automatically on tax matters among G-20 members by the end of 2015.
Going forward, it is important that there is coordination among G-20 members. This exercise will not prove effective if not properly coordinated, with countries imposing unilateral measures.
This is part of a global trend toward tax transparency. In line with this trend, the CCCE recently released a report that shows the tax contributions made by our members to all levels of government. There is ever-increasing public interest in how much tax is paid by companies. This report shows that Canadian companies are significant taxpayers, with an average total tax rate of 33.4% of profits.
In conclusion, the CCCE strongly supports the intergovernmental agreement negotiated by the government and looks forward to its full implementation.
I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.