Long time coming
Downe questions why CRA took so long to release tax information
P.E.I. Senator Percy Down says the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) decision to provide information to calculate the tax gap is long overdue.
The CRA recently agreed to provide Parliamentary budget officer (PBO) Jean-Denis Fréchette with information he has been requesting to help calculate the difference between what is owed in taxes and how much has been collected by the federal government.
Downe said he originally asked for this information in 2012.
“As delighted as I am with this outcome, I am equally disappointed that it took so long and only happened because the PBO threatened to take CRA to court,” he said. “It is hard to believe that the Canada Revenue Agency was allowed to stonewall the PBO for so many years, under two different federal governments. Now that the agency has handed over the information, one has to look back and wonder why it took six years to accomplish.”
The CRA is required, under the Parliament of Canada Act to supply the PBO with free and timely access to any financial or economic data in the possession of the department that is required for the performance of the PBO’s mandate.
By refusing to supply the information, the agency was in violation of both the spirit and the letter of the law, said Downe.
The PBO was requesting anonymous raw data, not the personal information of taxpayers.
Downe also cited repeated instances in recent years where the CRA gave the impression of co-operating with the PBO, only to do an “about-face.”
Recently, the agency has begun to study the tax gap itself, releasing three reports since 2016.
These reports, however, have only shown a part of the picture rather than the more comprehensive study the PBO plans to undertake, said Downe.
“The independent assessment and public reporting of the tax gap has always been precisely what the Parliamentary budget officer is trying to accomplish,” he said.
“He should not have had to threaten to take a government agency to court to achieve this outcome.”
“It is hard to believe that the Canada Revenue Agency was allowed to stonewall the PBO for so many years, under two different federal governments. Now that the agency has handed over the information, one has to look back and wonder why it took six years to accomplish.” Senator Percy Downe