Loblaws $400 million dollar tax avoidance.

[CapitalB]

Right!? That would be a great how to guide. Tax loop holes and breaks for normal low and middle income people.

There's lots, starting with a much lower income tax bracket for starters. Anyone saying that there aren't breaks for "normal" low and middle income people is just being lazy and not doing much research.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/working ... -1.4423280

I didn't say there weren't any I said it would be great if there were a guide. That article even mentions that theres a huge lack of awareness of the programs and the process for them is very complex.

I think ideally all these things should trigger automatically whenever they are applicable to a persons tax file. The whole tax process is handled by machines at this point anyway, the only reason they don't trigger automatically is because the government knows people don't know about the programs and saves themselves millions in not streamlining the process and informing people that it exists.

[The Green Barbarian]

I didn't say there weren't any I said it would be great if there were a guide. That article even mentions that theres a huge lack of awareness of the programs and the process for them is very complex.

Fair enough - my bad. I agree with you 100%. It actually bugs me to know that there are people out there who are eligible for funding and probably can't get it due to the complexity of the bureaucracy involved in getting it. Typical government - dangle the carrot but make it extremely difficult to get.

I think ideally all these things should trigger automatically whenever they are applicable to a persons tax file. The whole tax process is handled by machines at this point anyway, the only reason they don't trigger automatically is because the government knows people don't know about the programs and saves themselves millions in not streamlining the process and informing people that it exists.

You are making too much sense.

[Ka-El]

I think ideally all these things should trigger automatically whenever they are applicable to a persons tax file.

What about places like H&R Block? Isn't that their job?

[Even Steven]

Any loopholes for me? I am just an ordinary low income pay my taxes on time guy. Thanks

Yes, there are many ways for low-income people to pay less in taxes. One of them is called a progressive tax scale, and we already have it. Basically, low-income peeps pay waaaay less than high income earners. If you look at all taxes received by CRA, the majority of taxes come from mid and high-income earners, and low-income peeps pay next to nothing. Top 15 percent account for 45% of tax revenue.

So yes, there's already a loophole for you.

[Omnitheo]

Surprised to see no posts about this. We have hundreds of posts across dozens of threads in regards to a $10 million dollar compensation to a Canadian citizen, but zilch on a 400 Million Dollar! Tax avoidance.

Difference is $10 million to a convicted murderer compared to a publicly traded company that employs nearly 200,000 people (from company website). If say the average employee made $40k then that is $8 Billion in wages. How much does the murderer contribute to the economy? Other than the legal system employees of course.

Khadr pleaded guilty in October 2010 to "murder in violation of the laws of war" (wiki). Love how you make it seem so nice, Canadian citizen. Paul Bernardo, Clifford Robert Olson, Robert Pickton...... Canadian citizens too.

The payout to Khadr wasn’t for his crimes. It was for his rights being violated. The rights that all Canadian citizens deserve. He served a sentence as an adult and was tortured despite being a child soldier who was caught up in a war zone through no fault of his own. The point is that we’ve spoken on and on and on about Khadr, when the compensation paid out to him was so much less than what many large corporations are getting away with taking away from Canada. And there is virtually no discussion of it.

I’m not arguing that loblaws isn’t contributing to our economy. I’m arguing that they are using loopholes to contribute less to the economy than they should be, so that those at the very top of the company, who are already the most well off, can pocket even more.

Also keep in mind that loblaws is not paying an average of 40k. Most employees are close to minimum wage. I’m surprised though that after things like the Panama Papers, or the recent bread price fixing scheme that people here would be so quick to excuse them of wrongdoing.

[The Green Barbarian]

*removed*

[JagXKR]

I’m not arguing that loblaws isn’t contributing to our economy. I’m arguing that they are using loopholes to contribute less to the economy than they should be, so that those at the very top of the company, who are already the most well off, can pocket even more.

Also keep in mind that loblaws is not paying an average of 40k. Most employees are close to minimum wage. I’m surprised though that after things like the Panama Papers, or the recent bread price fixing scheme that people here would be so quick to excuse them of wrongdoing.

So with nearly 200k employees the $400M works out to $2000 per employee. Hard working employees that didn't kill anyone and get a $10M payout. Child soldier or what, I guess Kelly Ellard should apply for some moolah because it wasn't her fault because she was a child as well.

[Jhunter199]

Come on now, every single person in this forum, if given the chance or opportunity to legally pay less in tax would probably not think twice before jumping at the chance. When someone else does it though it suddenly becomes immorally wrong?
Yeah Weston foods makes tons of money, but they also have been building these companies for almost a century. By saving tax expenses we the consumer are offered a low overall price on products.

[Even Steven]

Come on now, every single person in this forum, if given the chance or opportunity to legally pay less in tax would probably not think twice before jumping at the chance.

Exactly. If there's a legal way to pay less in taxes you bet your *bleep* I'll be trying it.

And if you say "Well, I like to pay my fair share without trying to minimize it" you're either a liar or an idiot.

[Omnitheo]

By saving tax expenses we the consumer are offered a low overall price on products.

Total bull. They will sell their product for what the market values it at. And pocket the rest. And if they can get away with it, they will collude to fix the prices higher. Which they were recently found guilty of. These tax savings don’t impact the prices of their products. They impact the size of their execs mansions yachts, number of sports cars, and lobbying funds.

[Merry]

If what Loblaws did turns out to be a form of tax evasion (which is illegal) then they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the Law.

However, if what they did turns out to be tax avoidance by utilizing a perfectly legal loophole, then it is incumbent on our Government to close that loophole. Because it shouldn't be legal for companies to reduce their tax bill by sending their money to fake offshore companies, that were created purely and simply for tax avoidance purposes.

[Bsuds]

By saving tax expenses we the consumer are offered a low overall price on products.

So is that why they were also manipulating the price of bread because they were saving so much on their taxes?

[goodswimmer]

I never even heard of this, maybe that's why nobody has been posting about it. Its must be pretty hush hush.