Hansard
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 236
View Chris Charlton Profile
NDP (ON)
View Chris Charlton Profile
2013-06-17 14:49 [p.18428]
Mr. Speaker, we know the PMO likes to have its dirty work done by backbenchers, and now we have had it confirmed that this is exactly how the unconstitutional union disclosure bill came to be. An access to information request revealed that the government asked the Canada Revenue Agency to provide language for the bill, hardly a normal procedure for a private member's bill.
Will the Conservatives finally come clean and admit that this attack on workers came straight out of the PMO?
View Pierre Poilievre Profile
CPC (ON)
View Pierre Poilievre Profile
2013-06-17 14:50 [p.18428]
Mr. Speaker, public polling indicates that the overwhelming majority of Canadians, surtout les Québécois, support union financial disclosure. They support it because unions receive millions of dollars in tax benefits, and taxpayers deserve to know how those benefits are spent. As well, workers deserve to know how their forced dues are spent.
The only ones who are opposed to it are the NDP members, because the NDP received at least $340,000 in illegal union money and it has something to hide.
View Yvon Godin Profile
NDP (NB)
View Yvon Godin Profile
2013-06-17 14:51 [p.18428]
Mr. Speaker, with Bill C-377, the Conservatives are going after unions the same way the IRS went after the Tea Party in the United States. The Canada Revenue Agency is trying to squeeze $72 million out of unions.
The Minister of National Revenue continues to claim that she has not put a figure to the penalties, but an internal document from her agency proves the opposite. Why?
View Pierre Poilievre Profile
CPC (ON)
View Pierre Poilievre Profile
2013-06-17 14:51 [p.18428]
Mr. Speaker, the vast majority of Quebeckers support this bill. According to Leger Marketing, more than 80% of Quebeckers are in favour of union transparency. They know that workers are required to pay high dues. They also know that the New Democrats received more than $300,000 in illegal union donations.
The time has come for unions to be transparent.
View Gail Shea Profile
CPC (PE)
View Gail Shea Profile
2013-06-10 14:48 [p.17976]
Mr. Speaker, our government has been working with partners abroad to crack down on tax cheats. Today, we are seeing the benefit of Canada's close collaboration with our international partners.
I am pleased to announce that Canada is now in the possession of extensive data on Canadians with offshore assets. CRA experts are reviewing the information on a priority basis and will undertake compliance actions where warranted.
This is, once again, a great day for hard-working taxpayers and a bad day for tax evaders.
View Anne Minh-Thu Quach Profile
NDP (QC)
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Victoria for yet another informative speech. He always provides statistics and specific examples. It is clear that he does his homework before sharing his point of view.
Something he said earlier really struck me. A total of 3,000 full-time positions will be cut at the Canada Revenue Agency. The people being cut will not be able to investigate the money being lost to tax havens. Billions of dollars are lost and are not being reinvested into the fight against climate change, for example. It would mean more money in our economy.
The Conservatives made $29 million in cuts to Parks Canada when we are trying to attract visitors. Our parks create ecotourism jobs, for example, which means jobs for the regions. The Conservatives are slashing family farms. They are cutting everywhere; meanwhile, the money from uncollected taxes could be reinvested in my area's economy, ensuring sustainable, high-quality positions.
Can the member again explain how all these job cuts—and the fact that we are losing money that should be coming back to us from companies—are negatively affecting our economy?
View Murray Rankin Profile
NDP (BC)
View Murray Rankin Profile
2013-06-10 18:38 [p.18005]
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that the hon. member has put these cuts in the personnel of the Canada Revenue Agency in a very interesting context and much broader context. She talked about parks, climate change, family farm regulation and so forth.
The cuts the government has made to public services to Canadians are having real impact. I know the Conservatives like to say that these are back office jobs that have been cut and we should not worry, that it will not affect their fight against tax havens. That is what they say in the context of CRA.
In my community of Victoria, I keep getting seniors telling me that they do not have telefile anymore. There is no front counter service. That has all been cut. It is as if we are supposed to believe, with the millions and millions of dollars that have been cut and, if I use the government's figures, 2,568 more people will be cut after the budget goes through, that this has no consequence in the real world.
What do the Conservatives think we are? Of course there will be consequences and the examples the hon. member has given on climate change and parks are just examples that we could replicate throughout Canada Revenue Agency's experience just as much.
View Kevin Lamoureux Profile
Lib. (MB)
View Kevin Lamoureux Profile
2013-06-10 19:29 [p.18011]
Mr. Speaker, one of the things I made reference to when I had the opportunity to address the legislation was the fact that government needed to do more than just bring in the legislation, which is almost a given. One would expect the legislation that we have today.
Does the member not see the value or merit in giving additional resources to the Canada Revenue Agency so it can have the resources necessary to get tough with tax evaders? Does he not agree that would be a good step forward?
View Jasbir Sandhu Profile
NDP (BC)
View Jasbir Sandhu Profile
2013-06-10 19:34 [p.18011]
Mr. Speaker, it is very clear from the speeches that we all agree everyone needs to pay his or her fair share of taxes. Conservative members say one thing and do another. If we look at their record, they have cut $250 million to the CRA, which is equivalent to 3,000 full-time employees. If we are not going to make investments in people to go after tax cheaters, how will we collect that?
Would my hon. colleague not agree that we need to make an investment in CRA and hire people to go after tax evaders instead of making cuts to the Canada Revenue Agency?
View Wladyslaw Lizon Profile
CPC (ON)
Mr. Speaker, I am surprised anybody would suggest that the efficiency of any organization should be measured by the number of people employed. Many changes have been implemented. There was a lot of investment made in Canada Revenue Agency. There are technological innovations that will help us with the workforce that exists.
Therefore, I do not know why we should say that if there are less employees, we will be less efficient. That is absolutely not true. We are in the 21st century. We do not need 100 million people employed in one agency to be efficient.
View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
View Peter Julian Profile
2013-06-10 19:36 [p.18011]
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to Bill S-17. I would have been much happier if this did not come on the heels of another time allocation motion moved by the government.
The government does not want us to debate the principles of this bill. That is what I want to focus my comments on during the 20 minutes I have been given, because this aspect is extremely important. Today, by presenting Bill S-17, the government is telling us that it has everything all worked out.
The Senate had the chance to debate the bill, but I will not get into the credibility of senators for now. The Conservatives think that by introducing this bill, they are accomplishing something. The sad thing is that the opposite is true.
First, let us start off with the issue of what we are talking about here. We have had a number of Conservatives who have tried to raise the issue of tax debt. It is true that on any given occasion, in fact, in every one of the ridings of the Conservatives who are here today, about 6% of Canadians fall behind on their tax debt. As they are Canadians, they endeavour to catch up and pay their taxes. There are those who fall behind and they are Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats. The important thing is that those individuals eventually catch up. That is part of the $29 billion in uncollected tax debt that is being paid back.
I would like to speak to a broader issue which is the issue of the uncollected tax debt that Revenue Canada is seemingly unable to follow-up on. My colleague from Surrey North mentioned a few minutes ago the issue of the government saying that it was going to take on tax havens and that it was getting that uncollected tax debt. However, at the same time it would be cutting cut one-quarter of a billion dollars out of Revenue Canada's overall expenditures, cut 3,000 employees and somehow this time, even though Conservatives have screwed up pretty well everything else they had over the last seven years, they would get it right.
The Auditor General had something to say about that in the report that came out this spring. It is important to note, when we talk about what the Auditor General referenced, that he has seen his department cut back severely under the government. The government does not seem to like independent thought around issues of financial accountability and fiscal transparency. Even though the Auditor General's department has been cut back, here is what he said:
The level of tax debt is driven by the economic climate, tax policy, taxpayer behaviour, and the Agency’s efforts to collect taxes in a timely manner. In Canada, 94 percent of individuals...pay their taxes to the Agency on time. However...there is always a balance of unpaid taxes...
Those taxes get paid later on. As I mentioned earlier, in every one of our ridings, about 6% of our constituents have fallen behind. For Conservatives to denigrate those people who are endeavouring to catch up is something that is quite disrespectful. However, the reality is in each and every riding we are looking at about 6% of Canadians who work to catch up.
However, the Auditor General found on the corporate sector it was actually 90% where the taxes that were owed were paid on time. Therefore, there is a much bigger problem in the corporate sector.
It gets worse when we talk about large tax debts. This is obviously why the Conservatives wanted to shut down debate on this. As we bring forward the pathetic Conservative record in terms of tax debt in the corporate sector, Conservatives are understandably embarrassed by their inability to put in place a tax sector that functions.
This is what the Auditor General said about the Canada Revenue Agency, and we are talking about the mega accounts of tax debt. He said:
When we reviewed the additional criteria for accounts over $10 million, we found that the Agency did not meet its targets for danger of loss reviews; they were either missing or not adequately documented in [about half]...the...accounts that required them. A danger of loss review is important, since it will allow the Agency to act quickly where the taxpayer may be disposing of assets instead of paying a tax debt.
That is very interesting. Among ordinary Canadian families, there is a fall of about 6%, but when we are talking about the large accounts, the $10 million accounts, Conservatives failed about half the time. That is fascinating. Half the time they failed. This is interesting, because when we talk about the overall issue of uncollected tax debt, it should be no surprise to any of us that the Conservatives' failure on this is one reason there has been a substantial increase in uncollected tax debt. You will recall, Mr. Speaker, that they have now slashed 3,000 of the positions of hard-working public servants in the Canada Revenue Agency, so it is going to get even worse.
In other words, in 2006, the Conservatives came into power, and there was about $18 billion in uncollected tax debt. What is it after seven years of the Conservatives mismanaging pretty well everything they touch? I would say that they cannot even run a peanut stand, but that actually would be doing a disservice to people who run peanut stands. We saw how they incredibly botched the F-35 debacle, with $8 billion moving up to somewhere around $40 billion, and apparently that was without engines. When we see that kind of fiscal mismanagement, we have to just shake our heads.
On uncollected tax debt, it is the same kind of thing. The Conservatives started with $18 billion, and after seven years of Conservative mismanagement, we are now up to $29 billion. That is an increase of 57% in uncollected tax debt. If people say they are surprised and cannot believe that the Conservative government would be this awful and ineffectual, and they ask why it is that there is that substantial increase, they would have to come back to the Auditor General's report. In the Auditor General's report, we see that even in the case of danger of loss reviews for accounts over $10 million, the Conservatives are simply incapable of getting the job done.
A very wealthy man owing $10 million, according to these Conservatives, will get off scot-free. It is not a problem if people owe millions of dollars. The Conservatives just say that it is fine, that they will slash the jobs of the people who are supposed to collect that money, because the Conservatives do not really care. That is why they have had a 57% increase in uncollected tax debt over the course of just a few years. My goodness. Since Conservative governments cost all Canadians so much in terms of quality of life and the fiscal mismanagement they are showing, we simply cannot afford too many more years of Conservatives. Fortunately, in 2015, Canadians will put an end to this, and they will be putting in place an NDP government that actually knows how to manage the tax system.
What do we mean when we talk about going beyond the uncollected tax debt? We have seen Conservative failure there. That is why the Conservatives prudently say, since the New Democrats would be talking about this for the next few days, that they will just invoke closure and shut down the debate so that hopefully, Canadians will not find out how badly they have botched the issue of uncollected tax and how much worse it will be because of the slashing and the cuts to the Canada Revenue Agency.
We have to ask about the money that has been put in tax havens. That has not even been calculated. We understand that. They have gone from $18 billion to $29 billion, an increase of 57%. That is the uncollected tax debt we know about. However, let us look at tax havens and the level of investment being pumped into tax havens. In 2011, about 24% of Canadian investment overseas went into tax havens. Going back a few years, it was in the single digits, but under the Conservatives, we have now moved to a situation where about a quarter of overseas investment goes into tax havens.
Given how badly the Conservatives have botched the issue of uncollected tax debt, one can imagine that the issue of tax havens is of major concern. However, what we have is a Conservative government that seems to be unwilling to deal with this fundamental issue. We are talking about tens of billions of dollars invested in tax havens overseas. The Conservatives just do not seem to care very much about that.
I have just a little aside. My grandmother was orphan. She came from England. She came to Canada to start a new life in her 20s. It was quite brave at the time. She had to take a ship across the Atlantic Ocean and take a train all the way across Canada. This was a young woman who decided that she wanted to start her new life in Canada.
She had an expression she loved to use. She would say that somebody who is not thinking very far ahead is being penny wise and pound foolish. Of course, that is a reference to English currency. Penny wise and pound foolish is what applies to this Conservative government.
It cut back and slashed $250 million from Revenue Canada. It slashed 3,000 positions and says that it is being penny wise, yet it is being pound foolish when we see the billions of dollars of uncollected tax debt that has accumulated under the Conservative government and the tens of billions of dollars that are now flowing freely offshore into tax havens.
Members will recall that the NDP raised this a few years ago, even before the lightning breakthrough in 2011 that gave the NDP official opposition status, with 100 strong NDP members of Parliament, who come from all walks of life and really reflect the diversity of this country in a way that has never been reflected on the floor of the House of Commons. Even before that, we were raising this issue of tax havens on the floor of the House of Commons.
Members will recall the famous Canada-Panama trade agreement the Conservatives brought forward. We raised concerns at committee, and not only the NDP but also a number of other people who were concerned about Panama's status as a tax haven. It was not just me speaking. The Internal Revenue Service in the United States said very clearly that Panama does not have the transparency that is required. It is a tax haven.
At the time, we had Todd Tucker, of the Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, come forward and say that Panama was one of the world's worst tax havens and that the Panamanian government had deliberately allowed Panama to become one of the worst tax havens in the world.
The Conservatives got it in their heads to actually put in place the Canada-Panama free trade agreement that would worsen that issue of tax haven status. Members will recall that the Liberals were just going along for the ride, as they usually did. They were the accomplices pushing along with the Conservatives saying that it was a great idea. Only the NDP caucus stood up and said that we could not sign a trade deal until we had an official tax treaty with Panama, because otherwise, we would be worsening the situation and would be making even worse the possibility of money transferred from Canada to Panama simply going into a tax haven, one of the worst tax havens in the entire world.
That was in January 2011. I dare say, two years later, yet again, the NDP has been proven right. We were right to say that it was the wrong thing to do.
I think, implicitly, the Conservatives are trying, through their Prime Minister's Office talking points, to say that they now want to somehow take action against tax havens. I think what the Conservatives are really saying is that the NDP members were right and that the Conservatives were wrong and are sorry. We accept the apology from the Conservatives, but that is not good enough. What they actually have to do is make things right, and that means not signing these types of free trade deals when what they actually do is enhance the tax haven status of these countries they are signing deals with.
Here is the real problem. We have a situation whereby hundreds of Canadians are now sending their money offshore. Again, those are estimates that come from a variety of sources. This is an increasing problem that is more and more manifest right across Canada. We are seeing tens of billions of dollars flowing offshore now. A quarter of our investment in this country is going offshore to tax havens.
We are seeing an additional $170 billion, it is estimated by the Canadians for Tax Fairness, going into 12 global tax havens. That means a difference of about $8 billion a year in tax income, yet we are seeing the Conservative government do nothing except offer Bill S-17. It has signed a few agreements, yes. That is good. We support that on this side of the House, but that does not resolve the problem in any way, shape or form.
What it does, in this case, is allow a bit of cover for the Conservative government. It may have messed up with the Canada Revenue Agency. It may have messed up by cutting thousands of positions that would have allowed it to go after tax evaders in the corporate sector that are taking money offshore with impunity. Having messed up on the uncollected tax debt, having messed up, as well, on the whole issue of money going into tax havens, the government now presents Bill S-17. It is saying that it resolves all the various problems that exist on the issue of tax havens and uncollected tax debt.
New Democrats actually have a different and smarter idea about the kinds of things needed to resolve this issue. As is our normal practice, Mr. Speaker, having been a member of Parliament with long experience, you know that what the NDP always does is bring forward a wide variety of solutions to resolve issues, because we get the job done. I wanted to get in another plug, because I know it particularly embarrasses my Conservative friends. It is not meant unkindly.
This morning we had the debate on the parliamentary budget officer that was proposed by the member for Outremont and the leader of the official opposition. We had a chance, yet again, to talk about the fiscal period returns issued by the ministry of finance that have shown, for 20 years running, that NDP governments are by far the best at managing money, balancing budgets and paying down debt.
That is not me speaking. That is the federal ministry of finance, which is surely not a hotbed of social democrats yet, but it will be. It will be a hotbed of social democrats in a couple of years, and that means that we will have even better financial management than we have shown at the provincial level. We are number one provincially. Just imagine an NDP federal government, with all those social democrats with all that great experience of being number one at balancing budgets and paying down debt, then being able to change the priorities of the federal government so that Canadian families actually benefit. We would have the housing we need, the kind of health care system we need, high-paying jobs for Canadians rather than low-paying jobs for temporary foreign workers, which is where the government seems to love to put the emphasis, and perhaps, more importantly, a transparent, accountable government that actually honours and respects Canadian taxpayers.
At the finance committee level, New Democrats offered a whole range of amendments. We talked about the federal government studying and measuring, to the greatest accuracy possible, Canadian tax losses to international tax havens and tax evasion to determine the Canadian federal tax gap. Australia has done that. The United Kingdom has done that. The U.S. has done that. It is time for Canada to actually measure the tax gap.
We talked about greater transparency and telling Canadian corporations that they have to disclose all taxes paid in other jurisdictions. We also said that the Auditor General should evaluate the success of the Canada Revenue Agency in prosecuting and settling cases of tax evasion. We put all those forward, and the Conservatives rejected every single one.
New Democrats are going to vote for Bill S-17. The reality is that if we really want an effective income tax system, in which everybody pays according to what they earn, and there are not these tax havens and growing tax debt, then Canadians have to elect an NDP government in 2015, and that is what they are going to do. I have no doubt about that.
View Elizabeth May Profile
GP (BC)
View Elizabeth May Profile
2013-06-10 19:58 [p.18014]
Mr. Speaker, Bill S-17 deals with tax treaties, as we know, with a number of countries. It is an interesting collection: Namibia, Serbia, Poland, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
However, relative to collecting on tax debt, I was prompted by the member's comments about cutting back on staff at CRA. I am wondering if he is familiar with the train of reports we have had since 2006 from the auditor general pointing out that the CRA seemed to have a very poor understanding of where the tax debt was and why it was rising. It was failing to use its risk assessment models properly. The auditor general, for years, has found that CRA staff tends to go after smaller debts, harassing what I think of as regular folks, and leaving aside the millionaires. The large, low-hanging fruit is with the millionaires. Does the hon. member have any comments on the pattern of CRA tax collection?
View Anne Minh-Thu Quach Profile
NDP (QC)
Mr. Speaker, this bill will be passed, but I would like to know what my colleague thinks of the fact that it is woefully short on content. Indeed, a closer look will show that instead of solving problems, it will create others.
Under this bill, 3,000 Canada Revenue Agency employees will be laid off as a result of $250 million in budget cuts, I believe. There will be fewer people available to investigate and make businesses pay their taxes as they should. As a result, more money will be diverted to tax havens. This file is a losing proposition for Canada.
Given that that billions of dollars, 57% more money, is going to tax havens, how can this be considered a serious bill that actually targets the root causes of tax evasion? On top of not providing additional resources to the Canada Revenue Agency, the government is cutting the resources the agency already has.
View Kevin Lamoureux Profile
Lib. (MB)
View Kevin Lamoureux Profile
2013-06-10 20:40 [p.18020]
Mr. Speaker, it is fair to say that Canadians want to see tangible results. It was not that long ago when former prime minister Paul Martin brought forward in a budget a commitment of $150 million to deal with tax evasion. That $150 million ultimately led to an impact of somewhere in the neighbourhood of $2.5 billion, which is a great deal of money.
The member makes reference to the legislation and, yes, we all support it. However, could he contrast the investment in providing financial resources to draw out more of that money that is being taken away from the tax base and what the government is doing in cutting back on resources to Canada Revenue Agency today?
View Niki Ashton Profile
NDP (MB)
View Niki Ashton Profile
2013-06-10 20:58 [p.18022]
Mr. Speaker, my colleague referred in his speech to the government's general doublespeak on issues, including tax fairness, and I would like to read into the record something that connects to the points he raised. It was said by Dennis Howlett, from the Canadians for Tax Fairness organization:
...the capacity of the CRA to go after tax cheats using tax havens needs to be increased significantly. While tax havens will require a concerted international effort, there is much more that Canada could be doing itself. The CRA internal audit document revealed that tax practitioners believe the CRA is not doing enough to catch or prosecute tax evaders.
Here we have a government that claims to be tough on tax fairness, when in fact we are hearing about significant cuts to the CRA and an inability to deal with the real issue of tax evasion and taxes being directed toward tax havens.
Could my colleague speak to that?
Results: 1 - 15 of 236 | Page: 1 of 16

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data