PBO to get data needed to measure tax gap

OTTAWA After a five-year battle with the Canada Revenue Agency, the parliamentary budget office is finally being promised the data needed to evaluate the amount of revenue Ottawa loses each year due to offshore tax havens and other tax avoidance schemes.

The budget office has been demanding the data since December 2017 and has even threatened court action to get it. But, until now, the agency has refused to provide it, citing confidentiality of tax records.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that a deal has finally been struck between the agency and the budget officer.

“An agreement has been concluded with the parliamentary budget officer and will provide this data in a way that will ensure the protection of personal information of Canadians by the end of the month,” he told the House of Commons.

Jean-Denis Frechette, the parliamentary budget officer, had given the agency until Feb. 28 to turn over the data before pursuing other options.

He welcomed the news of a deal Monday, but reserved the option of going to court if the data that’s handed over turns out to be less than advertised.

“So, yes, that would be something that could be considered, depending on the outcome of Feb. 28,” Frechette said in an interview.

He said he has no problem with Trudeau”s caveat that the handover of information will be done in a manner that will protect the personal information of taxpayers, noting that his office has always said it wants “anonymized” data only.

If his office gets all the information it has been seeking, Frechette guessed it might take six to 10 months to crunch the numbers and come up with an estimated “tax gap” — the difference between the amount of tax revenue that should have been collected in a year and what was actually collected. But the time frame will depend on the quality of information the Canada Revenue Agency provides.

“If they send me ... paper version of all their files in boxes, of course it will take a long time,” he said. “It”s difficult for me to guess.”