The obstacle standing in the way of a final deal for the Canadian Grand Prix is tax, according to Montreal's French-language daily La Presse.
The report said Bernie Ecclestone wants to receive the payments of the Quebec, Ottawa and Montreal authorities over the next five years but not pay federal tax. It is said the F1 chief executive is holding back his signature until he receives a written guarantee about the issue from the Canada Revenue Agency.
Additionally, Ecclestone, who will certainly become the event's promoter, also wishes to take all the money generated by ticket sales and refund the sales tax portion at a later date. Canadian law stipulates that such amounts should not leave the country before the government's portion has been paid.
Raymond Bachand, handling the governments' F1 negotiations, said last Friday that "there are always complicated elements with a tentative agreement - which we have with Mr Ecclestone - when the lawyers put it down on paper... problems sometimes arise.
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La Presse cited a well-informed source used to dealing with Ecclestone: "At one point he's going to say 'I give you 24 hours to sign the agreement' and he will arrange to be unreachable before the deadline.
"Politicians always end up with blood on their knees," the source added.
Federal Public Works Minister Christian Paradis however indicated he wanted an agreement "which respects the Canadian taxpayers," while a spokesman for the Minister indicated that "taxation rules do not depend on a politician's good will."
