NDP, Liberal leaders release income-tax information in wake of Panama Papers leak

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This article was published 10/04/2016 (3446 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With the Panama Papers drawing attention to the financial dealings of politicians around the world, the leaders of the Manitoba NDP and Manitoba Liberals divulged personal financial information Sunday.

The party that’s leading in the polls — the Progressive Conservatives — said they weren’t taking the bait set by NDP Leader Greg Selinger, which they called an “election stunt” and “American-style politics.”

Selinger invited reporters to his home Sunday to say he hasn’t squirrelled away money in foreign bank accounts to avoid paying tax.

“I do not have any off-shore accounts — no secret accounts anywhere,” Selinger said from his kitchen table at his home in St. Boniface. He invited media to see copies of his 2014 income tax.

“What you see is what you get.”

His 2014 income was $147,347. A copy of the Canada Revenue Agency statement said his total tax payable for 2014 before deductions was $43,756. Selinger said his income comes from serving as premier and the only property he owns other than his home is a cottage, which belongs to him and his wife, on an island in Lake of the Woods. His wife, Claudette Toupin, owns another cottage her father built. The couple has lived in their old St. Boniface home for 37 years. It was originally a duplex they’ve fixed up and added onto.

“As we go through these times when people are asking good questions about why you serve in public office, we’re simply here to serve the people of Manitoba… I’m just disclosing my tax return to let you know there is nothing complicated about anything that I do. It’s pretty straightforward and out front for you to see.”

The leak of the so-called Panama Papers — 11.5 million documents from four decades of files from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sets up off-shore accounts for clients — has rattled many world leaders, including prime ministers in Iceland and the United Kingdom. Icelanders demanded and got the resignation of their prime minister, whose wife had an off-shore account that was revealed by the Panama Papers.

British Prime Minister David Cameron released his income tax returns from the past seven years Sunday as he sought to quell controversy about his personal investments. Cameron tried to calm political waters regarding an offshore trust account set up by his late father, Ian Cameron, but the disclosure raised more questions. Protesters have been calling for his resignation.

When asked whether Selinger’s wife, Toupin, had any off-shore accounts or investments, a party spokesman said no and released her 2014 income summary as well. Toupin, who’s now retired, was the prairie regional director for the Federal School of Public Service in 2014. Her income was $127,746 and her taxes owed were $31,311, the Canada Revenue Agency summary shows.

Selinger said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other world leaders have released information about their personal finances. He invited the other provincial party leaders to disclose their income tax returns as well.

“As a proactive measure, I think we’re at a time where there’s more demands for public transparency — more of a request for people to be clear about what their personal circumstances are and whether it has any impact on their role in public office.”

At a hastily called press conference Sunday afternoon, Liberal Leader Bokhari released her Canada Revenue Agency statement showing that in 2013, her earned income was $37,670. Her staff made copies of a portion of her Notice of Assessment available to reporters and said the information was the best they could come up with on short notice. Bokhari, who became Manitoba Liberal leader in 2013, urged Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister to release his personal income information as well.

“The premier did it and I have no issue doing it,” said Bokhari. “I just think all three leaders should do it.”

The Progressive Conservatives were having nothing to do with the disclosure of Pallister’s personal finances.

“Greg Selinger’s last-minute election stunt is desperate, American-style politics from an old, tired government trying to divert voters’ attention from the real issues that matter to families,” the PC party said in a press release. “Mr. Selinger sat at his kitchen table knowing that he has taken over $5,000 in broken promise tax hikes from Manitobans’ kitchen tables since becoming premier. Tax hikes that hit average Manitobans in their wallets on everything from home insurance to cars to cottages.”

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Rather than disclosing Pallister’s finances or saying whether he has any off-shore accounts, the provincial Tories said Selinger can’t be trusted.

“He says he’s transparent but lied to Manitobans about not raising the PST,” the PCs said. “He says he’s transparent but refuses to provide details of the $670,000 in special severance payments he approved to NDP staffers (and) refused to release documents to the ombudsman related to the Tiger Dam deal and his own minister’s conflict of interest. Greg Selinger personifies broken trust,” the statement said.

After the Progressive Conservatives declined Selinger’s challenge to reveal Pallister’s 2014 income tax return, the NDP issued a statement asking why not.

“This is a very simple question. It’s an opportunity for Brian Pallister to live up to everything he’s been saying about transparency. We can’t guess why Pallister is so desperate to hide from such a simple and straightforward question.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.