Most Canadians would never report a tax cheat since it is “none of their business,” according to in-house research by the Canada Revenue Agency. Taxpayers in focus groups said informing on neighbours with tax troubles felt "Communistic," according to Blacklock's Reporter..“They were concerned about living in a place where people would be ‘snitching’ on each other and didn’t want to feel like they were in a ‘Communist state’ or a place where ‘Big Brother’ is watching,” said an Agency report 2022 Annual Corporate Research Qualitative Component. “Moreover, a few would be concerned with being identified as having reported the situation and having to live with the ‘snitcher’ label.”.When asked for a fuller explanation, focus group participants said it “would be very difficult to be sure,” “even if you were sure it is not your place or business” and that “the Canada Revenue Agency is looking for these cases and the person will eventually be caught anyway.”.“Among both individual taxpayers and small and medium sized enterprises there is great reluctance to report personal or business tax evasion even when certain, for fear of unfairly judging the situation,” wrote researchers. “People generally feel what others are doing is ‘none of their business’ with some of the belief there may be attenuating circumstances that may explain the cheating, especially for low income households.”.The findings were based on 30 focus groups with individual taxpayers, small business managers, bookkeepers, and accountants. The Revenue Agency paid Narrative Research $147,957 for the study..“The reasons offered by individual taxpayers for not reporting a person they felt was cheating on taxes were quite similar to those offered by small and medium sized enterprises: It is none of their business,” wrote researchers..The Revenue Agency operates a National Leads Centre that compiles informants’ tips on suspected tax cheats. Prior to the pandemic the centre averaged 30,000 “leads” annually. The number in 2020 doubled to more than 60,000 due mainly to complaints over Canadians who falsely claimed pandemic benefits, according to a 2022 report Management Of Leads..“Since the introduction of COVID-19 relief measures, the leads program saw a significant increase in the volume of leads and needed to shift operations to handle the high volumes quickly during these unprecedented times,” wrote auditors. “The National Leads Centre operation had to quickly adapt and change to meet these challenges.”.The 60,000 leads included members of the public who contacted the Agency to “report suspected cases of tax and benefit non-compliance” and a small number of “internal leads,” fewer than 800 a year. “Internal leads are submitted by Agency employees who have identified potential non-compliant behaviour through the course of their regular duties,” the report explained.
