FINA Committee Meeting

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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

Meeting No. 108

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Standing Committee on Finance met in a televised session at 8:46 a.m. this day, in Room C-110, 1 Wellington Street, the Chair, James Rajotte, presiding.

Members of the Committee present: Mark Adler, Guy Caron, Raymond Côté, Shelly Glover, Randy Hoback, Brian Jean, Cathy McLeod, Peggy Nash, James Rajotte, Murray Rankin and Dave Van Kesteren.

Acting Members present: Hon. John McCallum for Hon. Scott Brison.

In attendance: Library of Parliament: Mark Mahabir, Analyst.

Appearing: Hon. Ted Menzies, Minister of State (Finance).

Witnesses: Department of Finance: Ted Cook, Senior Legislative Chief, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch; Edward Short, Senior Chief, Business, Property and Personal Income; Shawn Porter, Director, Tax Legislation. Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants: Gabe Hayos, Vice-President, Taxation. Canadian Tax Foundation: Larry F. Chapman, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer. Office of the Auditor General of Canada: Vicki Plant, Principal.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Committee resumed consideration of the subject matter of Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Income Tax Act, the Excise Tax Act, the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act, the First Nations Goods and Services Tax Act and related legislation.

The Minister made a statement and, with Ted Cook and Shawn Porter, answered questions.

The Committee proceeded to the consideration of matters related to Committee business.

Peggy Nash gave notice of the following motion:

That the Standing Committee on Finance a) undertake a study to examine rising household debt in Canada, including, but not limited to: the root causes of rising household debt, the nature of household debt in Canada, and the social and economic impacts of high household debt levels; b) that the Committee make recommendations to the Government of Canada to address rising household debt levels; and c) that the Committee report its findings to the House of Commons.

Murray Rankin gave notice of the following motion:

That the Canada Revenue Agency provide the Standing Committee on Finance with information pertaining to estimating the Canadian Federal Tax Gap, including but not limited to: a) data or information regarding the difference between reported and assessed employment, dividend, and interest income for an anonymous random sample of T1 and T2 tax filers; b) any estimates held by the CRA regarding “collectability” of resulting reassessments and the rates of “non-detection” of incorrect returns through audit; c) any other information held by the CRA pertaining to the preparation of a Tax Gap estimate and; d) that this information is shared with parliamentarians and the Parliamentary Budget Office so that an attempt to estimate the Tax Gap can be made through other means as the CRA does not prepare Tax Gap estimates.

At 9:46 a.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 9:51 a.m., the sitting resumed.

Gabe Hayos, Larry F. Chapman and Vicki Plant made statements and answered questions.

At 10:45 a.m., the Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.

Christine Lafrance
Clerk of the Committee

2013/03/06 10:36 a.m.