April 2015 Dividend Income Update + MORE May 11th

CANBERRA, Australia – Australia’s top finance official said Monday he will introduce legislation to force global corporations to pay a fair amount of tax on their Australian earnings, potentially boosting government revenue by billions of dollars and adding momentum to international efforts to combat corporate tax avoidance.
Treasurer Joe Hockey said there are 30 corporations that pay little or no tax on the profits from their Australian operations but did not name them.
Under legislation to be introduced to Parliament on Tuesday, the Australian Taxation Office will have the power to charge tax on profits diverted offshore and to fine the corporations an amount equal to the tax evaded.
“We have taken a lead role globally in this regard,” Hockey told reporters. “Have no doubt, the rest of the world is looking at this legislation. This is the first of its kind in the world.”
Tax officials have been posted to the Australian offices of the 30 companies, analyzing the complicated transactions they use to avoid paying tax…

OTTAWA – Measures announced in last month’s budget to protect unpaid interns have turned out to be far less potent than advertised, New Democrats charge.
Details of the measures were spelled out in an omnibus budget implementation bill tabled last Friday and NDP MP Andrew Cash said he was disappointed to find the Harper government is doing nothing to protect interns from sexual harassment, being forced to work unlimited hours or being otherwise exploited as unpaid labour.
He called the omissions “significant” and “quite frankly, inexplicable.”
Cash co-sponsored a private member’s bill that would have amended the Canada Labour Code to apply to unpaid interns, giving them the same protections as other workers in federally regulated industries, such as television, telecommunications and financial institutions.
Although it had initially pooh-poohed the need for extra protection, the federal government announced in the budget that it would indeed amend the code “to ensure that interns under federal jurisdiction, regardless of pay, receive occupational health and safety protections and are subject to basic safety standards, and to clarify the circumstances under which unpaid internships can be offered…

Sharp nosedives after capital reduction report, Toshiba tumbles after canceling dividend, withdrawing outlook

HONG KONG – Chinese stocks led Asian benchmarks higher Monday after the country’s central bank cut interest rates for the third time in six months, hoping to reinvigorate waning growth in the world’s No. 2 economy. European shares retreated ahead of more talks on Greece’s bailout.
KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 was down 1.5 per cent at 5,013.89 and Germany’s DAX shed 0.5 per cent to 11,646.87. Futures augured losses on Wall Street after the U.S. stock market ended last week with its best day in two months on good news about the job market. Dow futures fell 0.1 per cent to 18,100.00. S&P 500 futures shed 0.1 per cent to 2,106.00.
CHINA CUT: On Sunday, the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates for the third time in half a year in a fresh bid to shore up sputtering economic growth. The central bank’s latest move came after trade data released on Friday showed imports and exports declined in April suggesting domestic and foreign demand are slowing…

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Welcome to another dividend income update.  For those of you new to these posts on my site, every month I discuss my approach to investing using Canadian dividend paying stocks and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and how reinvesting the dividends and distributions paid from these investments are helping us reach financial freedom.
When I break it down, our financial plan is rather simple.  We:

Buy established Canadian companies that have a history of paying dividends.
Hold those companies through market thick and thin.
Reinvest the dividends paid by these companies whenever possible.
Put some cash leftover from our dividend payments into indexed ETFs.
Diversify stock holdings across companies over time.

Now the annual contribution limit for the Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA) has been increased, we’re looking at ways to fund our TFSAs in light of our other financial goals this year.
Regardless if money flows into these accounts this year, thanks to existing holdings in Canadian banks, telcos, pipelines, energy and utility companies we’re on pace to earn about $900 per month this year in passive income…