This weekend, Canadian Association of Income Funds will launch a national campaign that urges Canadians to contact their Members of Parliament and ask them to take immediate action to stop the federal government’s decision to tax income trusts.

CAIF says the campaign will directly address the facts that the government ignored in its decision making process and continue the fight to protect the retirement savings of millions of Canadians.

“Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s reckless decision to tax income trusts has had a devastating impact on working and retired Canadians, and hurt the national economy. This widespread fallout will continue for the foreseeable future unless the government reverses course immediately,” said George Kesteven, president of CAIF, which represents the more than 250 companies that are structured as income trusts.

“Mr. Flaherty has clearly made a poorly informed and costly decision on income trusts,” said Kesteven. “The government had other options but chose to ignore them and Canadians are now paying the price.”

“Neither the industry nor investors were consulted on this decision. We strongly urge the Minister of Finance to listen to the outcries of Canadians before enacting this legislation.”

“Fortunately, the government’s announcement is not yet law,” added Kesteven. “The federal Conservatives can still restore confidence, keep its election promise, and do the right thing for millions of investors,” said Kesteven.

Kesteven also noted that the majority of income trusts are small to medium-sized businesses that use the trust structure to raise the capital they need to reinvest, grow and remain Canadian. If implemented, the new income trust tax will make it prohibitively expensive for these companies to access capital markets. As a result, many of these businesses could end up as subsidiaries of U.S. companies.