BEING a comparative-
ly penniless peasant I
do not have to worry
about foreign
properties that are of
interest to the tax man.
So I am all in favor of
the rich having to
cough up on such
things. We peasants are
like that.

I didn’t shout for joy
when, a few months ago, it
was reported that the

‘ Bronfmans had spirited $2
billion out of the country on
which they would not have to
pay capital gains tax.

There was a fuss because
peasants like me are ready to
-wield their pitchforks in such

"cases,

‘ Tremembered how, 20
years ago, the tax guys went

, after the waitresses! Yes, they

"wanted to make sure the girls
were reporting all their tips.

In the Bronfman case the
deal was the result of a favor-
able “interpretation” of the

“tax rules. So it was all legal.
_But not so good a thing that
Some tax official didn’t leak
the matter to the Globe &
Mail.

My peasant mentality
caused me-to muse on

whether Being big f friends of

the Liberal party had any-
thing to do with it. Oh, get
thee behind-me, Satan.
That's not-how things are
done in this country!

Now we come to another
brow-furrowing affair. I refer
to the campaign being
mounted by Chinese money
men to avoid having to
declare their foreign assets for
tax purposes.

The rules are clear. Tax
has to be
paid global-
ly on all
income.
There is
nothing
new about
that and it
is not
aimed at

When the

new rules
apply

everyone

wili have to
declare for-
eign properties.

It is possible that this is
being done because of the
backlash on the Bronfman
affair. Good thing, too. We
are, after all, not talking
about tips for waitresses,

The sky falls when this
news hits the buck-happy
Chinese. There is more noise
than you would get fram a
million crows in vour front
yard. People who have come
to Canada from Hong Kong

‘and Taiwan bleat in unison.

Unfair! Dreadful! What are
you doing to us?

It’s not so much what we
are doing to them as what
they are doing to us.

_T have in mind the “astro-

DRAPERIES ‘& BLINDS BY
_S.TAURSEN & SON

w, low prices.

Estimates

call 987-2966
(Ask about Seniors’ Discounts)

Serving the North Shere for 25 years

Insurance
Services Ine.

-105-200 West Esplanade
North Vancouver
(Located beneath

Famous Players Theatre)’

“My peasant
mentality caused
me to muse on
whether being big

ait friends of the

Chinese. Liberal party had

anything to do
with it.”

a tax

nauts” who use this country
to dump their kids into our
schools far a free education,
(see last Sunday’s News)
have a heart operation or two
on medicare, secure a bolt
hole in the event of the com-
mies turning nasty, and then
fly away home.

We are the world’s pre-
mier sucker country.

Prominent in the bitching
field is Albert Cheng,
described
in the pub-
lic prints as
a business
partner of
Hong
Kong bil-
lionaire Li
Ka-shing.
Cheng i
Canadian
citizen
who hasn’t
lived here
since 1983,
But he lays
down the
law — his
law, that is —~ about how
things should be.’

If the Liberals do this ter-
rible thing they should be
voted out of office, he says.
How’s that for gall?

He states further thar the
Chinese should put their
dough into foreign banks and
then threaten to move their
capital overseas unless the
proposed tax law changes are
abandoned. The banks will
then be on Ottawa’s back, he
reckons.

Finance Minister Paul
Martin has promised to
“review” the legislation and if
precedent is anything to go

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by the Liberals will fie on
their bellies and surrender.

Some Chinese spokesmen
claim their brethren are
already moving back to Hong
Kong, and thar many more
will tollow if the tax changes
go through. Which shows
how much they are attached
to this country.

For them, Canada is a flag
of convenience, just as if we
were some ship under
Liberian registry.

If they want to go, good-
bye and good luck. Housing
prices should go down.

As for moving their capital
out of the country, don’t
make me laugh. Nobody

invests in a place because they’

love it. They invest because
they think they can make a
buck. Sentiment doesn’t
come into it. And where
money is concerned the
Chinese are as unsentimental
as anyone.

~~ The North Shore News
belicres strongly in freedom of

Speech and the right of all sides °

tn a debate te be heard. The
columnists published in the
News present differing points
of view, but those views are not
necessarily those of the newspa-
per itself. .

Wednesday, October 23, 1996 — North Shore News — 7

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