Canadian Energy Trusts

Canadian energy trusts were down 12-15% today on news of a new tax. Here are the news and the facts as I find them:

Marketwatch posted these articles: "Canadian stocks tumble on tax change" and "Canadians dominate NYSE's top losers list".

Here's what Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had to say in his statement last night.
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The government is proposing to apply a Distribution Tax on distributions from publicly traded income trusts...

For income trusts that begin trading after today, these measures will apply beginning with their 2007 taxation year. For existing income trusts the government is proposing to provide a four-year transition period. They will not be subject to the new measures until their 2011 taxation year.
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Marketwatch said that "the change, if approved, would negatively impact dividends to nonresidents by 26.5%, according to BMO Capital Markets." and "at Desjardins Securities, analyst Peter Gibson agreed and said the draconian measure 'may well mark the end of the income trusts phenomenon.' "