TI Canada's Executive Director, James Cohen, testified yesterday before Canada's House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. The subject was the Canada Revenue Agency's efforts to combat tax avoidance and evasion.
Invited as a civil society expert on the subject, James Cohen raised important points, such as:
The Panama Papers brought to light Canada's image as a desirable place to store dirty cash;
TI Canada is currently re-examining this phenomenon of overseas incorporation agencies marketing Canada's opacity and finding that nothing has changed;
However, TI Canada and our civil society partners enthusiastically applaud the government's proposal to establish a publicly accessible registry of beneficial ownership in the 2021 Budget;
Provinces and territories must come on board with this initiative;
A public accessible beneficial ownership registry is a powerful tool. Still, it needs to be set up correctly, with the inclusion of verified data and harsh consequences for falsifying information.
Read the full testimony here.
Watch the full testimony here.