Canada Too Willing to Pay the Washington Tribute Tax

[tuvor]

When the Harper conservatives promised to shave the GST they forgot to tell Canadians about the WTT, the new tax they would be introducing. Actually, it is an old tax that has been around for some time. Under the quisling conservatives though it will be going ballistic.

A tribute tax is open ended, often hidden, levied in various forms (some more subtle than others) and the tax man-in this case the USA-can decide on a whim when, where, how much and in what form it is to be levied.

It can also be levied in the form of hard cash, as with the 1.3 billion dollars in duties seized by the US as part of the pending softwood lumber agreement.

Even though the United States Court of International Trade declared the US duties on softwood lumber illegal, our Minister of International Trade David Emerson, undeterred, went ahead with the sham agreement. The USCIT ruling is a Godsend for the Canadian softwood lumber industry as a basis for a whole new set of negotiations, but Emerson remains the fixated dupe of the US Commerce Department.

http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20060828171605426