(See below if you don't know what I am talking about)
Macleans columnist Steve Maich has responded to the criticism regarding his original article on Joe Wood (Hat-tip LetItBleed). In this response Mr. Maich takes on the most common arguments against supporting Joe Wood from emailers. Here is a samping.
...This was NOT a stock options program.
It was called an Employee Share Purchase Plan, and as far as I can tell, there was no other plan in Canada exactly like it.
Employees simply had small deductions taken from their paycheques, and on a certain date the pool of money was exchanged for shares at about $2 per share.
Employees then received a statement that said "you now own X number of shares"
Most of the recipients were not terribly sophisticated financially. They figured they'd have to pay tax when they finally sold, but it didn't occur to them that they'd have to pay income tax immediately.
This a big part of the reason why I'm so sympathetic to them. If they were exercising options, then I'd be more inclined to say it was their fault. But these people were really passive in this whole process. All they did was enroll in a program they didn't fully understand, and now it's going to ruin them. That just doesn't seem fair to me, when the government is so willing to bend over backwards to help the likes of George Radwanski.
...If we cut them a deal we have to cut a tax deal for everybody who ever lost money in the stock market.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the biggest red herring of all. Nobody's asking to be compensated for their stock market losses. They are asking not to have to pay taxes on stock market gains they never received.
All the people who wrote variations on this argument, are hereby given detention.
I want you all to write the following line, 100 times in your notebook: "I will not muddy the waters by emailing columnists with fatuous arguments."
And thanks go out to Mr. Maich for the mention on his blog.
