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$13.5M seized from Chinese travellers at Vancouver airport
The amount of undeclared cash seized from Chinese travellers at Vancouver International Airport has spiked in recent years, according to documents released by the Canada Border Services Agency. Between 2013 and 2015 Chinese citizens were caught with about $13.5 million in cash by customs officials at the airport. According to the documents the following amounts were seized each year: (ca.news.yahoo.com) Altro...
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First, taxing foreigners isn't racist. As an American, go try to buy real estate in a foreign country and see what happens. Second, Chinese buying up huge swaths of expensive Canadian real estate? Go ask folks in Miami how it worked out for them when Columbians started buying up all the prime real estate in South Florida in the 80s and 90s. Better yet, go ask Texans about the current flood of the Mexican buy up if prime properties in Dallas and Houston (most of it in cash). Want to own property in California? You probably can't afford it unless you inherited a few $ mil, won a lottery or work as a Calif city council rep and skimming a few thousand $ on a daily basis. Why? Because foreigners came in and paid way over market value, which drove Calif real estate prices into the stratosphere. If Americans were as smart as Canadians, we'd impose severe penalties on foreign buyouts, too.
I think the Civil Forfeiture laws need to be studied and revised. To confiscate cash from people because it is labeled as possible drug-related money is ridiculous, and those who are found innocent have legal battles to get their funds returned that can be tedious, quite expensive and inconvenient if they were traveling away from home when the funds were seized. This seizure industry is against Constitutional Law and should be stopped.
Canadian government has it backward. Asian drugs get smuggled in; the hundreds of $ millions of illicit money not laundered (i.e. invested in legitimate Canadian enterprises and real estate) gets sent BACK to China and other Asian drug cartel destinations. Bottom line, if people don't want their large cash stashes confiscated when they fly into Canada (or the US for that matter), simply follow the law and declare it on the customs form. Just like illegal immigration--there's nothing "racist" about enforcing the law.
Like it or not. The rules that have been in place for years state that anything over $10,000 in cash must be declared. The same rule applies to travelers entering the US. You are deceiving yourself if you think that large amounts of unreported cash are being used for any legal purpose. Nevertheless, there are so many legal methods of bringing money into a country that only a corrupt person would resort to bringing in cash. The rule applies to all. If you think the Chinese are being singled out, the remedy is easy. Declare any cash over $10,000.
The claims of money laundering is not based on facts, but simply pretext to justify interference into the papers and effects of travelers.