Support staff want same tax breaks as soldiers
The civilian group is part of the Forces, but it was not mentioned in the PM's budget
(Vancouver Sun reporter Frances Bula is spending two months following Canada's troops in Afghanistan and filing dispatches for CanWest News Service.)
CAMP JULIEN, Afghanistan â †While Canadian soldiers got the news two weeks ago that those serving on dangerous missions will be temporarily exempted from taxes â †two other groups working at Canadian military camps in Afghanistan are anxious to hear about their tax status.
Those whose tax fate still hangs in the balance includes approximately 160 Canadians working for SNC-Lavalin and the 50 who are part of a civilian-support group within the Department of National Defence.
And, although they don't knock the federal-tax exemption the soldiers were granted in the federal budget, they feel they're going through similar risks and deserve similar treatment.
â Å“We're going through the same hardships. We live in the same conditions. We've replaced soldiers to do their jobs so they can do the hard core stuff. And bombs have a tendency not to discriminate,â ? says Dan Boudreau, the deputy project manager for SNC-Lavalin's operations. The Canadians among the 400 employees here are concentrated in construction engineering and supervision, and some have to travel through Kabul to other locations where Canadian soldiers are working.
But the two groups are waiting for decisions from different branches of the government.
The 50 people from the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency, who staff the camp store and the welfare offices that provide recreation and entertainment, are waiting for a ruling on if they are included in the tax exemption.
â Å“We assume we'll get it, but I told my people not to get their hopes up,â ? said Switch Rousseau, the agency's welfare manager. The civilian group is considered part of the Canadian Forces, and their jobs were in fact done by soldiers until 1997. But Rousseau said the fact the budget language on the tax exemption specifically mentioned soldiers, police and RCMP serving abroad, but not the civilian support staff, made everyone hold off on celebrating. She expects to get word about a ruling any day.
The ruling will have a significant
impact for the CFPSA staff, since almost all of them make under $72,000. The exemption said all soldiers making less than $72,000 would be exempted from federal taxes as of Jan. 1, 2004, for time served on dangerous missions such as Afghanistan and Haiti. The announcement opened a can of worms for the government, since Canadian soldiers who served the first six months in Afghanistan and those currently serving in Bosnia were not included.
For the people working for the private contractor, the tax dilemma is a different story. Boudreau says the Prime Minister's Office has applied to Revenue Canada, together with SNC-Lavalin, to have the company's employees get the same tax benefit as those working on a UN mission. The application was made in January and the company is still awaiting that decision.
That overseas employment tax credit is normally given to employees of private companies who are considered to be doing development work.
â Å“The question is do we qualify or not. You could argue that we're part of the peace-building operation of the Canadian soldiers, which is development work,â ? said Boudreau.
But for the moment, it has warned its employees not to claim an overseas tax credit.
The company doesn't want to see the same problems experienced by employees of the previous private contractor.
People who had worked for ATCO, which provided logistical support to Canadian troops in Bosnia, claimed the credit and then were ordered by Revenue Canada to pay it back.
