Canadians are dodging the taxman in massive, never before acknowledged amounts, says Blacklock's Reporter..Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier acknowledged the value of taxes owed but never collected is billions more than originally claimed..Legislators have spent six years prodding the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to calculate the so-called “tax gap.”.“Our government is committed to improving the integrity of the tax system by combating tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance,” Lebouthillier said in a statement..“This report and our continued work to study the tax gap is helping.”.In a report, the CRA put the value of unpaid taxes at up to $40.4 billion annually. Two years ago, the CRA claimed it was $28.7 billion..The higher figure confirms a 2019 Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report that estimated the actual figure was $40 billion, or more, based on electronic cash transfers to offshore corporate accounts..“We look at Tonga for example,” said Budget Officer Yves Giroux in his testimony to the Commons finance committee at the time..“The GDP is miniscule. It’s a tiny island in the Pacific and the flow of transactions between Canada and Tonga is many times the GDP of that country. There are very few reasons that would justify a transfer of that much money to a tiny little country, except for tax reasons.”.The PBO identified corporate cash transfers from Canada to Luxembourg totalled $98.7 billion, annually..“Luxembourg has the population of Gatineau,” said Giroux..“I am not aware of any oil exploration in Luxembourg.”.The CRA estimated the tax gap included $600 million in unpaid excise fees on contraband cigarettes, $6.5 billion in lost GST due to off-the-book sales, up to $16.2 billion in corporate tax avoidance and evasion, $17 billion in unpaid personal income tax and some $4.2 billion lost to offshore transfers by wealthy individuals..“Eliminating the potential tax loss from offshore activities can be difficult,” wrote staff..The Commons finance committee in a 2016 report said auditors must calculate and publish the amount of uncollected taxes..“The government made a commitment to study the tax gap,” Lebouthillier testified at 2017 hearings. “I have asked the Agency to do the work.”.The Commons in 2019 by a vote of 150 to 134 rejected a bill to compel the Agency to publish a yearly accounting of unpaid taxes and publicly name all convicted tax cheats in a federal blacklist..Bill S-243 An Act To Amend The Canada Revenue Agency Act passed the Senate earlier..“The CRA refuses to be transparent,” Sen. Percy Downe (PEI), sponsor of the bill, said in 2017 debate..“Canadians can’t trust them.”
