Tax avoidance

Canadians put $40 billion in tax havens last year

Canadian corporations and individuals quadrupled the amount of money they transferred into tax havens last year, pouring almost $40 billion into the tropical islands and European duchies that shield funds from Canadian taxes, newly released statistics show.

It was one of the biggest years ever for “investment” in tax havens — more than four times greater than the $9 billion sent offshore in 2014. The total amount of wealth held in the 10 most popular tax havens now sits at $270 billion.

“The problem is bigger than it has ever been,” said Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness, which took foreign direct investment numbers from Statistics Canada to calculate the use of tax havens.

In 2015, $13 billion went to the Cayman Islands, $9 billion to Barbados, and nearly $8 billion to the Bahamas, according to the statistics. Money sent to Switzerland shot up by 58 per cent over the previous year.