A couple of years ago, journalists
connected to WikiLeaks revealed a trove of information on hundreds of
wealthy Canadians who may (or may not) be hiding piles of cash in
offshore bank accounts in order to evade paying their taxes.
Until that public revelation, the
Canada Revenue Agency did not act on the leak, because they did not
have the information. They did not have the information because,
unlike its American and European counterparts, the CRA at the time
did not pay for information.
Well, now they do. And that must make
it easier for the agency to go after waitresses who don't declare
their tips, or day labourers who work on construction sites for cash.
The millionaires with their fortunes in
Zurich or the Caribbeans? There's been some tough talk, but so far,
not a whole lot of recovery reported. A CBC News story — about a
year old now — noted the CRA had discovered about $22.4 million in
unpaid taxes due from offshore accounts, and recovered about $8
million.
Peanuts. But that's what the CRA likes
best.
In a much-heralded campaign in January,
the CRA did an aggressive audit of restaurant workers in St.
Catherines, Ont. After dragging who knows how many servers through
the wringer, the CRA found — gasp! — $1.7 million in unreported
gratuities!
At the tax rate paid by your average
waiter, that means the CRA would recover about $255,000, plus
penalties. A few probably also lost their GST refunds designed for
low-income Canadians.
Well, that experience ought to keep
Canada's wait staff honest.
You'd hope the government would make
good use of the $8 million they dragged out of the offshore accounts
of wealthy people. Eight million happens to be the sum the Harper
government gave the CRA's charity auditors, so non-profit advocates
for the poor, for the environment and for human rights would just shut
up.
Since the charity audit campaign became
public, and scholars began writing papers on its effects, news is
trickling out from charities dealing with the demands of the CRA
auditors.
Oxfam Canada was told they could not
use their funds raised to “prevent” poverty in Africa, because as
the CRA pointed out, millionaires could get together to find ways to
prevent themselves from becoming poor.
The CRA, with its non-use of
information on offshore tax evasion, would likely know a thing or two
about that.
PEN Canada, the national arm of a
global association of writers and journalists dedicated to freedom of
speech, is also under audit. They are accused of using free speech as
a political tool. Which is not a charitable activity in Stephen
Harper's Canada.
PEN, as you may recall, criticized the
federal government for putting a muzzle on its scientists who do
research on things like the environmental effects of energy
exploration. Can't have all that science going public, can we?
As with its experience with rich
offshore tax evaders, the supposedly non-partisan CRA also seems to know a
thing or two about using its funds for political purposes.
Edward Jackson, a professor at Carleton
University, wrote in a recent blog that the CRA “has lost its way.”
What used to be a politically-neutral enforcer of tax law has become
a political arm of government, which can be used to punish enemies.
His article, which you can look up and
read for yourself, is titled: Why the CRA is no longer an effective instrument of public policy. Jackson says Canadians
should be taking out memberships in and making donations to PEN and
other non-profits undergoing these special audits. He says we should
also be contributing to a fund to launch a court challenge to the
whole program, as it has been rolled out.
The CRA maintained in a recent release
that its audit targets are not politically selected. It just looks
that way.
Appearances are all the government
needs to create the chill required, so that nobody dares question
their policies or actions, unless the critics' resources are
government-deep.
Or held privately offshore.
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