“Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to hear the questions from my colleague, the member of Parliament for York—Durham. The stories he provided were very compelling stories. In my role as the member of Parliament for Yukon, I have heard stories as well and real cases involving real people and their frustrations with CRA. First and foremost, I want to assure the member that the Government of Canada takes the concerns raised about the integrity of our tax system and the accountability of the Canada Revenue Agency very seriously. Certainly, recognizing the individual case frustrations is something that I am happy to bring back to the ministry to ensure that we continue to improve and work on the services and accountability of the CRA. Upholding the integrity and fairness of Canada’s tax system is one of our top priorities, and on the flip side, combatting fraudulent claims remains a part of those efforts. The CRA takes this responsibility seriously and works tirelessly to uphold the trust placed in it by Canadians. The CRA actively pursues those who fail to comply with tax laws and takes action to recover funds owed, ensuring fairness for all taxpayers. Understanding the root causes of taxpayers who are non-compliant is essential to preserving the integrity of the tax system and protecting Canada’s revenue base, which supports the public programs and services that Canadians rely on. I also want to emphasize that the Canadian tax system is based on voluntary trust-based compliance and self-assessment, assuring that everyone contributes their fair share. In order to safeguard the integrity of the tax system, the CRA has implemented strong controls that are continually strengthened to address evolving risks. I also want to highlight that the CRA has implemented additional safeguards to ensure greater consistency and accuracy in refund processing. These include strengthened controls, intensified quality assurance oversight and tightened authority levels. Another means of addressing evolving risk includes collaboration with multiple partners, such as law enforcement and financial institutions. The CRA also employs technological tools, such as enhanced business intelligence and advanced data analysis, to improve risk assessments and to detect and deter the most serious instances of non-compliance. In fact, better data and more advanced analytics have allowed the CRA to better target its audits on the files with the greatest impact for Canadians. The CRA also collaborates with international organizations such as the OECD, the forum on tax administration, the FTA, and the joint chiefs of global tax enforcement, the J5. These partnerships enhance the CRA’s ability to combat offshore tax evasion and ensure that multinational corporations and digital economy participants pay their fair share of taxes. Furthermore, the CRA maintains a strict approach to non-compliance, which includes publishing all convictions on Canada.ca. Despite these efforts, fraud tactics continue to evolve, which is why the CRA remains vigilant and committed to consistently enhancing its processes. When fraud occurs, the CRA has established processes to recover funds, including reassessing returns, recovering refunds, applying civil penalties and, when warranted, referring cases to the criminal investigations program. This commitment reflects not only the CRA’s mandate, but also the trust that Canadians place in our tax system.”
Statement grade
A+
The average of Signal, Relevance, Respect and Clarity.
Average 96 / 100
A score under 50 is red. Choose a measurement to see where it lost points and why; choose it again to clear.
This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.
Mr. Speaker, Thanks · 11 wordsI appreciate my colleague’s acknowledgement and his sympathies for my residents, ThanksThe ask · 13 wordsbut respectfully, I would request better performance from the CRA rather than sympathy.Claims · 94 wordsHe has tried to paint a picture of actions that the government is taking to try to make things better or get better, but respectfully, the data does not back that up.Just this year, after the 100-day service improvement plan, 1which ended in December, the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson’s annual report in June showed that the problem remains.23It was the most complaints they had received in three years.4They are up 27% from last year.5The ombudsperson said that the complexity of the tax system is one of the biggest problems, 6Anecdote · 7 wordsand I see that all the time.AnecdoteClaims · 26 wordsThey made one recommendation that the CRA itself could not accept.It was to expand automatic tax filing to taxpayers who are in simple tax situations.7The question · 5 wordsWill the government do that?
