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Results: 1 - 15 of 19
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
Thank you, Mr. Chair, but respecting the importance of having the Parliamentary Budget Officer here, particularly at this COVID time, I'm going to go ahead and reserve that privilege for the second half out of respect for my committee members.
Mr. Giroux, we know that once the financial supports in the emergency measures related to COVID-19 come to an end, there will be pressure on the government to bring the budget into balance and to reduce the national debt. This is often code for severe austerity measures because the financial situation is often seen as a spending problem rather than a revenue problem.
In June 2019, the Parliamentary Budget Officer issued a report on the preliminary findings on international taxation, which, if I understand correctly, identified that Canada is losing $25 billion or more a year in tax revenues from multinational corporations that are avoiding taxes through tax havens. Can you comment on the importance of our financial health to take action on the use of tax havens?
Yves Giroux
View Yves Giroux Profile
Yves Giroux
2020-05-29 11:31
It's clear that with temporary measures and an economy that's grinding to a screeching halt, spending has gone up, revenues have gone down, which leads to what we expect to be an unprecedented deficit. However, as the economy recovers and the measures that have been implemented as temporary are allowed to expire, we expect that, all other things being equal, the deficit should return to a much lower level, so a much smaller deficit. However, as we've seen in the past, there's always a deficit that subsides, there's never a return naturally to deficit, so there's going to be a need for government action if the government were to desire a return to balanced budgets. In that vein, tackling international tax evasion could be a very useful tool to return to balanced budgets or to improve the federal fiscal balance.
The big challenge with international tax evasion, however, is the access to information regarding the income that's hidden and the assets that are held offshore. International co-operation is essential, as well as ensuring that the tax authorities in Canada have the tools they need to tackle that tax evasion.
Yves Giroux
View Yves Giroux Profile
Yves Giroux
2020-05-29 11:32
Several parties submitted proposals to my office during the election, and a couple of these measures could easily...well, easily.... A couple of these measures could be implemented to at least eat into that chunk of money that evades tax authorities.
View Julie Vignola Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you. In your speech, you also said that there has been a temporary suspension of the vast majority of audits.
What about the 50 investigations of companies using tax havens? Have these investigations also been suspended?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
I can tell you that these investigations are ongoing. When we talk about audits, we're talking about the regular work that is done on a daily basis. It's part of the agency's work.
With regard to the audits, if you want more technical details, one of the officials in charge could answer your question.
View Julie Vignola Profile
BQ (QC)
I just wanted to know if the investigations had been stopped; thank you.
I'd like to continue on the topic of tax havens. I know it's a hot topic. People want to understand what's going on. You recently said that $1 billion was invested to counter these tax havens.
How much money has the government been able to recover through this investment? It invested $1 billion. How much money did you ultimately recover?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you. Initially, the money invested was also used for organization, to put in place and consolidate the tools our public servants use. This made it possible to hire auditors and rebuild an expertise that had been taken away from us by the previous government, for which this was not a priority.
View Julie Vignola Profile
BQ (QC)
At the end of the day, how much did this $1 billion investment bring in?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
Investigations are ongoing and cases will be litigated. Requests have been made in this regard, as per regulations. Mr. Gallivan, who really is the expert on tax evasion, will be able to answer you very well.
Ted Gallivan
View Ted Gallivan Profile
Ted Gallivan
2020-05-11 14:32
As the minister mentioned, we have a lot of cases, over 3,000, before the courts. A lot of these audits are going to end up in court. However, we have already recovered, in gross figures, $4.4 billion, and we are several years ahead of our projections.
View Xavier Barsalou-Duval Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you Mr. Chair.
I have a very brief question for you, Minister. I'm an accountant by training, and when I worked in accounting offices, we had organizational charts that explained the structure of a company and who owned it.
On their T2 return, on which they report their income, I'm sure that businesses indicate whether they own another corporation. So the Revenue Agency knows that one business owns another. From that, it is therefore quite possible for the Agency to know who uses tax havens and who does not, since it...
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
I'm assuming that through the good work of the CRA and through your investigations, honourable minister, you ought to have a list.
Are you going to use the list of tax havens to draw up a list of companies that will not be eligible for credits to the large companies, and if so, what is this list and which tax havens are mentioned in it by country?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
Among other measures we've taken in recent years, we have been working with the OECD. We assess four countries a year and exchange information. Our goal remains the same: to have everyone pays their fair share.
The Agency is only responsible for administering the programs. With respect to the creation of the programs and their eligibility criteria, Minister Morneau will be in a much better position to answer you. We have listened to the concerns of our colleagues and Canadians and we will continue to work to find solutions.
View Matthew Green Profile
NDP (ON)
As do we. It doesn't have to be as complicated as is being presented here today.
You frame these benefits specifically in terms of tax convictions, yet we know that most of these are structured settlements that happen in a civil matter outside of the public eye, probably in non-disclosure protected deals. By a simple yes or no, aside from the companies that are found guilty of tax evasion, will companies or their subsidiaries that use these tax savings to legally but, I would argue, irregularly pay less tax be eligible for the millions of dollars in the large business credit?
View Diane Lebouthillier Profile
Lib. (QC)
As I was saying to my colleague, my job as minister is to manage the programs. If my colleague wants more information on the criteria, I suggest he addresses his question to the Minister of Finance.
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