The Senate has unanimously approved legislation requiring the Canada Revenue Agency to publish annual reports detailing all convictions under the Income Tax Act and estimates of money lost to tax evasion, a move proponents say will increase transparency and accountability.Blacklock's Reporter says Sen. Percy Downe (P.E.I.), who sponsored the bill, said the measure is critical to understanding the effectiveness of the federal tax system.“If you hide your money overseas, your chances of being caught are very low,” Downe said during second reading debate. “It is undeniable that a significant amount of money is lost to this country through overseas tax evasion.”Bill S-217, An Act to Amend the Canada Revenue Agency Act, mandates yearly reporting of convictions for tax evasion and an assessment of the “tax gap,” the difference between taxes owed under the Income Tax Act and taxes actually collected. The legislation now moves to the House of Commons for further consideration.Downe said confidence in the tax system has eroded as repeated scandals involving overseas tax evasion have gone largely unpunished.“Those of us who are playing by the rules and paying our taxes are being deceived by other Canadians who are skipping the system and hiding their money overseas,” he said.Downe cited the 2016 Panama Papers leak, which revealed 11,500,000 offshore files from the Panama office of law firm Mossack Fonseca. About 2,600 Canadians were identified, yet Canada has reported no recovered funds, while countries like Australia, Germany, Spain and even Iceland recouped millions from similar leaks..An Inquiry of Ministry revealed the CRA launched six criminal investigations related to the Panama Papers; three were discontinued, and three remain ongoing. No Canadians have yet been charged.The bill follows a 2018 Senate effort, S-243, also sponsored by Downe, which passed the upper chamber but was defeated in the House of Commons the following year.“Liberals may say they are working on it and moving mountains to tighten the net, but the net is still wide open,” said then-New Democrat MP Pierre-Luc Dusseault (Sherbrooke, Que.). “The basic problem here is that tax laws are still too lax.”
