Hundreds of Canadians among leaked data exposing offshore accounts
Posted Apr 6, 2013 01:15:37 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Approximately $32 trillion has been found in hundreds of thousands of offshore accounts, 450 of which belong to Canadians.
Several high profile Canadians have been linked to those accounts, including the husband of one Canadian Liberal senator.
With the rich going offshore to hide their cash, CBC Senior Producer Harvey Cashore says it could actually affect your bank account.
“The irony is the people that are most able to pay taxes are the ones that are most able to afford not to by going offshore,” Cashore said.
“Every person that’s going offshore and not paying taxes – the average person is paying more,” he added.
The CBC has helped lead the investigation, and has linked one account with nearly $2 million in it to Liberal Senator Pana Merchant.
Her husband allegedly opened the account in the late 90s as he was battling the Canadian Revenue Agency.
Not all offshore accounts are illegal, however.
“There’s nothing in itself illegal about setting up an offshore company with an omni-director at all, what is of concern to the revenue agency is whether people are declaring money earned offshore,” Cashore said.
The CBC has chosen not to release the names of the other Canadians, including 12 from Ottawa that own the accounts, as they are legally claiming their money.
