Members of TrustInvestor.com, including individual investors, young and old, bankers, brokers, traders, fund managers and income trust issuers, developed a petition to the government in response to its freeze on income tax rulings and comments subsequent to the release of the Department of Finance Consultation Paper on Flow-through Entitites including Income Trusts and Limited Partnerships.

Debated and developed for through our Forum, a statement was developed for publication October 1, 2005.  This was put online as a petition a few days later.

The statement made and signed by hundreds of individuals recognized both the importance of income trust investments and the impact on investors of government actions. It called for protection of a beneficial market and class of securities. Trust Investors call for informed policy-making. More than 835 individuals signed the statement and included addresses.

With government announcement in November that no new taxes will be imposed on trusts, there was a sense that investors have been heard.

Subsequent discussion by members of TrustInvestor.com indicated that there would be no harm in submitting the petition, for the record. Therefore, the letter to the Department of Finance, along with the list of names and address of people who added their signature to the public petition, was submitted as intended. 

For purposes of submission, the first words, “Recent statements”, were abbreviated to say that “Statements”...were made by the government.  Given the conditional content of the petition wording, its focused statement does indeed carry merit and warrant consideration by current and future government officials and Department of Finance employees.

Members of TrustInvestor suggested that the public statement ought to be documented and delivered as the Department of Finance remained open to receive responses as part of its consultation process.

The statement by TrustInvstors has been made part of the public record and will be held in regard to its appropriate context: It was intended as a thoughtful response to a government that invited perspective.