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In-Depth Information
had fallen 94 percent and 78 percent respectively. Mason Loh, a Vancouver
lawyer and a leader of the movement against overseas asset disclosure,
claimed that the new rules were the culprit, for they were regarded by mobile
business people as 'discriminatory, invasive, inconvenient, costly to comply
with and oppressive' (Chow 1998b).
28
He was joined by David Choi,
President of Royal Pacific Real Estate, who wrote to Premier Clark express-
ing his 'strongest opposition' to the new law. Gearing up the lobbying effort,
Loh wrote a full-page op-ed in the
Vancouver Sun
with an analytical critique
of the disclosure rules. He laid out the fears inflamed by the law including
the perception of an oppressive encroachment upon private property rights
and the establishment of a wealth tax. 'Are we prepared,' he asked rhetori-
cally, 'to scrap our business immigration program and the significant eco-
nomic and employment opportunities it generates…? Are we prepared to
forego the investments that would help to return our province from the
verge of recession that it now occupies?' (Loh 1998).
However, the die was cast when a detailed report by the federal Auditor-
General concluded that tax avoidance and evasion through non-disclosure of
overseas financial assets was a growing problem that required a federal
response because of 'potentially serious erosion' of Canada's tax base (Chow
1998c). Patrick Wong identified the costs that would ensue in the global
market-place for immigrants: 'In light of the global competitive environment
that Canada faces, the government should be finding new ways to attract
investor immigrants - not driving them away by burdening them with compli-
ance costs and regulations that they would not be faced with in other coun-
tries' (ibid). In response the Auditor-General denied any special targeting of
new immigrants, pointing out that offshore trusts legally protected new immi-
grants from taxation on income accrued but not brought into Canada for a
five-year period - time enough to gain citizenship (Desautels 1998). Federal
authorities clearly recognized the source of discomfort about new taxation. In
1997 Revenue Canada tax officials travelled to Hong Kong to speak with
returned migrants, and following final concessions but with a determination
to move ahead with the rules, Cabinet Ministers were despatched to Hong
Kong and Taiwan in late summer 1998 to try to alleviate anxieties.
The furore over overseas assets disclosure undoubtedly galvanized the
wealthy immigrant population. A formerly unknown group, Vancouver
Westside Neighbourhood Association, circulated a flier in English and
Chinese calling for a town hall meeting at the Oakridge Community
Centre to discuss foreign assets disclosure legislation. The Chinese media
in Vancouver were animated, not least on Hanson Lau's popular call-in
radio programme: 'We've had more calls on this issue than any other. The
mood is very unhappy, very ugly' (Fennell and Thomas 1996). Talk was
rife about departing households assuming non-resident status to avoid
Canadian taxation, about price declines in the high-end residential
