Finance committee  Sure. Thanks for the question. What I think I can do is provide some high-level information. There was an announcement in budget 2023. There's no measure in the bill related to that. I think the CRA currently provides a number of services basically to facilitate tax filing, to support tax filing, for Canadians.

Finance committee  It's not in 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Finance committee  Thanks for the question. For most tax proposals it is, but here—with something like the grocery rebate or something paid out of the GST credit system—you're talking about refundable credits, so you're talking about amounts paid out of the consolidated revenue fund. The CRA's position for those sorts of changes is that it will only do so when Parliament has passed the legislation and there is royal assent.

Finance committee  No. You're right.

Finance committee  I can't comment on the policy-making process and where decisions on those things are taken.

Finance committee  Thanks for those questions. For the first part, maybe what I would add is it would be a benefit of up to $467 for a family with two children. That's the maximum amount. Also, for a single individual without children, the maximum benefit would be $234. When the government talks about $225 for seniors, that's an average, recognizing that some individuals who are currently on the phase-out zone for the GST credit will receive a partial amount, so less than the maximum.

Finance committee  No, it won't be taxable, and it won't be taken into account in income for the calculation of income-tested benefits like the GST credit.

Finance committee  It won't be included in income. That means two things: first, it won't be taxable; and second, it won't be taken into account when calculating entitlement to benefits like the Canada child benefit, the GST credit and so on.

Finance committee  You can ask further questions under part 4 of the legislation. We have an information-sharing provision in this part of the bill. Also, services will be paid for. It's not like the interim benefit where people are receiving a cheque or a payment. It's more that the government will be paying for either all or a portion of services.

Finance committee  I don't think we could add anything beyond what CRA has put up on their website showing both the services that will continue to be provided and those that might be impacted in some way. I think we can only point to that.

Finance committee  It would be for the CRA to do that. I don't have a comprehensive recollection of everything that's on that website.

Finance committee  Thanks for the question. Basically, when you use an existing platform, you can deliver it more quickly, and you can also deliver it at a cheaper administrative cost. Those are the main two advantages.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. You'll recall that in the FES legislation, which I believe was Bill C-32, Parliament passed a rule around dispositions of residential property that were held for under one year. Basically, those would generally be taxed as business income, but there would be certain exceptions for certain life events—death, divorce, a job in a different place and things like that—that would take effect for the 2023 tax year.

Finance committee  It's the Canada Revenue Agency that would be delivering the proposed grocery rebate, and it would be doing so through the GST credit system. That's the system where the CRA is delivering the benefit four times a year to a large swath of the population. Currently, you have about 11 million individuals and families who are receiving the GST credit.

Finance committee  The question there would be whether the removal of the limit would result in that much of an increase in economic activity. I think we could say that often the government is clear that putting this forward and putting this into law, if it's passed by Parliament, will have a positive economic impact, which would somewhat reduce the cost of the measure, but we don't think it's very common that measures more than pay for themselves.