Ottawa hands off on trusts -- for now

[tuvor]

Ottawa hands off on trusts -- for now

STEVEN CHASE

OTTAWA -- Stephen Harper's free-market-minded minority government signalled a hands-off approach yesterday to the politically explosive income trust file, even when faced with the creation of the biggest trust in Canadian history.

Telus Corp.'s decision to convert to a trust -- one likely paying little tax on corporate earnings -- is the latest, and biggest, example of tax leakage from federal and provincial coffers.

The conversion is exactly the sort of business activity that drove cabinet ministers in the previous Liberal government to publicly wring their hands about lost tax revenue and the economic impact of the swelling trust market.

The Conservative government, which fought an election decrying Liberal meddling in the incometrust market, studiously avoided any comment on the move yesterday, saying it would "not engage in any speculation on the possible effects of any business proposal."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060912.RTELUSTAX12/TPStory/Business