Dear Editor
It is my view that the economic problems of the world can be laid squarely at the feet of the world's ultra rich. Money that should be spent on reducing public debt, maintaining infrastructure and providing social services, is being hoarded and hidden in tax shelters. Apologists for the ultra rich argue this money is being invested in enterprises that create jobs and stimulate the economy. They fail, however, to mention the bulk of this money ends up as gold bars, valuable art and antiques, luxury yachts and in banks that profit by loaning it out, often to governments that are already in debt.
According to a Postmedia news story by Jason Fekete, published in the May 9, 2013, issue of the Edmonton Journal, ultra rich Canadians are keeping $170 billion in 12 tax havens. This is costing our federal and provincial governments $7.8 billion, or 10 per cent of Canada's gross domestic product annually in lost revenue.
Few Canadians make the connection between demonstrations against austerity in Europe, budget deficits in the developed world, uprisings in Third World countries and waiting several hours in an emergency room before seeing a doctor here in Canada ... all because "a global network of tax havens enables $21 trillion (US) to be stashed away by the world's ultra wealthy." ("Tax havens and global impoverishment" Al Jazeera News, May 16, 2013.)
William Dascavich
Edmonton, Alta.
