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Results: 76 - 90 of 393
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First, I would like to acknowledge the officials from the Canada Revenue Agency and from the Department of Finance, Ms. Laroche, Mr. Marsland and their colleagues.
Thank you, Mr. Marsland, for beginning your presentation in French. We're very grateful.
Ms. Laroche, as the Chair pointed out, it seems that you have a weak Internet connection. We can't always understand your answers very well. Nevertheless, I have two questions for you. First, however, I will make a brief comment.
The Robillard Commission was obviously very partisan. The Liberal government and the opposition parties dismissed that recommendation.
Ms. Laroche, in your presentation, you said: Convincing our partners to make changes to include other subnational tax administrations is not a given.
Let's take as an example the Canada-United States Convention with Respect to Taxes, which provides for the exchange of tax information between competent authorities.
Paragraph (g) and subparagraph (i) of article III state the following:
g) The term competent authority means: (i) In the case of Canada, the Minister of National Revenue or his authorized representative;
So with respect to agreements, the Minister of National Revenue decides to whom she gives authorization. The same goes for all tax treaties and tax information exchange agreements. All the minister has to do is inform the United States or other countries.
What would stop her from doing so? Does she have reason to believe that foreign countries would refuse to honour the treaty they signed because they do not like the person the minister authorized to speak?
Mireille Laroche
View Mireille Laroche Profile
Mireille Laroche
2021-02-16 18:34
Thank you for the question.
I will respond, but I will also invite my colleague Mr. Marsland to comment, since the Department of Finance negotiates these treaties. Our role is to administer them. We each play a role in this area.
Our interaction with foreign authorities is governed by over 100 international agreements. With respect to your interpretation, I'm not in a position to say whether or not the United States would accept our delegation. That is a question we would have to ask them. Customs and traditions dictate that it usually remains at the national level. So these are national agreements, not subnational agreements.
If Mr. Marsland wishes to add something, I will give him the floor.
Miodrag Jovanovic
View Miodrag Jovanovic Profile
Miodrag Jovanovic
2021-02-16 18:35
Maybe I can answer.
I will give you some context. I think it would be useful.
Canada is a signatory to approximately 120 international tax treaties and information exchange agreements. Close to a third of those agreements contain clauses that, in certain situations, may allow the federal competent authority—the Canada Revenue Agency, in this case—to exchange some information with a subnational authority, to the extent that determination of a basic change at the federal level has direct implications at the provincial level. Exceptions in some of the existing treaties permit such an exchange.
These exceptions were created and agreed to by the various parties, and were based on the way the current federal-provincial tax system is set up. In the event of a decentralization of the federal system that would give administrative power to one province, it's not clear whether the rules of the treaties would be interpreted in the same way. It could require further negotiations.
As I said before, this applies to about a third of our agreements. The other agreements contain no similar exceptions.
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you very much.
In my opinion, the solution is quite simple. Amendments are made by exchanging letters, as was done when Revenue Canada became the Canada Revenue Agency.
Ms. Laroche, you were saying that most benefit programs that the agency administers for other departments and agencies, such as the guaranteed income supplement, the GST rebate and the Canada child benefit, are based on the information in tax returns. You state that, since a return has to be produced to show eligibility for the benefits, it is not possible to administer those benefit programs without tax information.
If the agreement between Quebec and Canada allows Quebec to send to Ottawa a copy of the tax information for its taxpayers, will the agency have the information it needs about their previous years' income, which it uses as a basis for paying out the benefits? Does it have any reason to believe that Quebec would not be able to comply with an agreement between Quebec and Canada on exchanging information?
Mireille Laroche
View Mireille Laroche Profile
Mireille Laroche
2021-02-16 18:38
Thank you for the question.
As I said in my answer to the previous question, the issue is one of procedure. Information is exchanged every day between various departments, including between the different levels of government. Technology allows that.
The modalities of the agreement, and where the administration would be done, must be clear. It must be clear when federal administration would come into play and where provincial administration would step back, and vice versa.
Then, if it turned out to be more of a technical modality, it would have to be clear how the exchanges would be made, in order to make sure that there were no interruptions. We also have to consider the ability to make changes quickly, if required. Just think of the situation we experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic when, in the space of a few weeks, amounts were increased in order to help Canadians. Naturally, it would involve additional costs, depending on the arrangement that is negotiated.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
Thank you very much.
I'd like to thank the witnesses. I am used to having marauding children and poor rural Internet, so I understand the challenges. I appreciate that, and the interpreter as well has done a terrific job through some choppy Internet, so thank you.
I'm thinking of a phrase I heard in my childhood, which is that water can't get any more wet. When I look at the CRA.... One of the things that you're presenting to us is the fact that if we put the provincial in there, the coordination would be impossible. It would be difficult, at least, which could cause things like systems not talking to each other. Systems like the CRA are not able to talk to ESDC, preventing people who are in desperate need of benefits from getting them because these two systems can't talk, systems that have people online for literally hours waiting desperately to get [Inaudible—Editor] that cost thousands of dollars...the CRA cannot respond to. Water cannot get any more wet, is the response.
When we look at these things, miscommunications like not being able to tell people whether CERB benefits are based on gross or net, when we look at these failures, how much worse could it get if Quebec was involved? I have trouble fathoming it. Despite these billions of dollars that the parliamentary secretary talked about that are in there, the CRA is failing Canadians, and I find it challenging to see how this water can get any more wet. Maybe you could expand on that for me.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
My question is this. We're in 2021. We have software that's spectacular, that can do everything, that can make cars drive by themselves, but we can't have software that can allow a province to talk to a federal tax collector. I just find that unfathomable.
Mireille Laroche
View Mireille Laroche Profile
Mireille Laroche
2021-02-16 18:48
In terms of its administration, the tax system is extremely complex. If you just look at the law and also the different types of provisions, it is necessarily extremely complex, like a lot of systems. I would say that the CRA takes a lot of pride in the work that it does and actually invests significantly in making sure it updates the system and provides the best service it can to Canadians.
Ultimately, what we're talking about is that we have established processes, we have established connections and we have established systems. If we take a part of the administration and we tell somebody else to do it, we need to unwire and rewire. It is part of the fact that we have to create connections. That takes investment and it takes time to do.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
You understand my point there.
Thank you very much for that, Mr. Flack.
Moving on from there, Mr. Hamilton referred to an information-sharing agreement that's supposed to be in place in the spring of this year. Mr. Flack, you equivocated there a little bit.
Will we have that plan in place by the spring? What is the spring exactly? Is that March or Mary or when is that in 2021?
Graham Flack
View Graham Flack Profile
Graham Flack
2020-12-01 11:31
Yes, we have a tentative agreement now. The target is to get that signed in March. The reason it has taken time is that we had to negotiate this with the provinces as well, because they needed to be supportive of this. The other reason this has taken time is that sensitive tax information will be accessed by a third party provider who provides the loans. That has resulted in some extensive consultations with CRA to ensure that the full integrity of that information is protected.
That's been the reason for the delay.
View Peter Kent Profile
CPC (ON)
Thank you.
Mr. Hamilton, it's good to see you again, sir. It brings back memories of days at Environment Canada and on the China Council.
When you speak of the information-sharing protocol that's being developed with ESDC, what exactly are the mechanics that will better re-engage delinquent borrowers and encourage repayment activity?
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2020-12-01 12:00
Thank you, Madam Chair.
What we're trying to do is to make sure that the information that's at our disposal is shared with the [Technical difficulty--Editor] to help get a better picture of the financial [Technical difficulty--Editor] the individual.
Getting better data on previous tax filings, dependants and, obviously, income will help us make better decisions collectively about what we should do.
I'd just add to a point that Graham made that one of the reasons this can become time-consuming or more complicated is just to make sure we are protecting the privacy of the information we share. This always comes up when we share people's tax data.
[Technical difficulty--Editor] and we need to make sure that whatever we do respects that.
View Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I will start by putting my questions to the officials from the Canada Revenue Agency.
I was quite surprised to read this, in paragraph 8 of the brief from the Office of the Auditor General:
We also found that the Canada Revenue Agency did not have the tools it needed to maximize recovery once borrowers defaulted and student loans were transferred to the agency for collection. For example, the agency was using Employment and Social Development Canada’s information system, which made it impossible for the agency to know exactly how much money was recovered by its own different activities and collection methods.
Was there communication between Employment and Social Development Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency?
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2020-12-01 12:08
I am sorry, my microphone was not properly adjusted and it was difficult to hear, but I think I have fixed the problem.
In this context, it is important to recognize that this program is subject to rules that are different from the income tax system in general, for which the process of recovering amounts is easier. Certainly, we collaborate with ESDC to make sure that—
Bob Hamilton
View Bob Hamilton Profile
Bob Hamilton
2020-12-01 12:08
Okay, so I will carry on.
Certainly, we collaborate with ESDC to make sure that we have as much information as possible on the students from that point of view. However, the recovery process is different from the one for the income tax system. We do what we can, and I believe that that is what the Office of the Auditor General mentioned in its report.
Results: 76 - 90 of 393 | Page: 6 of 27

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