Toronto, Dec 4 (IANS) A record number of tax cheats in Canada have voluntarily come forward to disclose their off-shore hidden millions of dollars.
In a nation which has one of the highest tax compliance rates in the world, as many as 6,798 rich Canadians have disclosed stashed-away assets worth $1.66 billion on which they have not paid taxes. This is twice the number of those who came forward to disclose their hidden assets last year, said Canadian Revenue Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn Thursday.

According to the minister, the rush for disclosure among tax cheats was triggered by the government’s message that “people should pay their taxes” or face the consequences.

“People realized that it is a question of time before we get them. I tell them, we will get you, we will find you,” the revenue minister told the National Post newspaper Thursday.

The Canadian disclosures follow reports in the US that as many as 14,700 rich Americans confessed last month to parking illegal money off-shore with the Swiss bank UBS AG. Their confessions came under an American amnesty plan.

The Swiss bank has announced that it will reveal the names of 4,450 Americans who have hidden $18-billion in assets with it.