Finance committee  Maybe it's the way they're presented. These aren't our expenses. What we're trying to do is make a provision that the agreement requires that exporters pay the levy. We collect the levy. We then calculate the expenses that the Government of Canada incurs to administer the program.

Finance committee  Just to clarify, the projections there are only estimates of the amounts that might be levied on exporters. The program is fairly simple. The money is levied on the exporters and then collected by the Canada Revenue Agency, costs are removed--which are somewhere between 6% and 10% depending on the year--and then all of that money is given back to the provinces from where the moneys came.

Finance committee  I would make two or three observations. First, the agency has acknowledged, and certainly does acknowledge, that contraband is a serious problem. We differentiate from the fact that we don't do revenue projections. We don't do revenue projections on any of our.... Whether it be the income tax or GST or corporate side, revenue projections are the responsibility of the Department of Finance.

Finance committee  I probably don't consider myself an expert in any area, perhaps, but in terms of revenue--

Finance committee  I'm here to answer as best I can any questions you have. I think what we have said is that it's very clear when one looks at what has happened to the revenue slope for tobacco, both for the federal government and for provinces, there has been a very steep decline. The revenue losses, if you look at actuals, are certainly in the hundreds of millions, if not greater.

Public Accounts committee  Actually, that's our question, not the finance department's. Starting in about 2000, after discussions with industry and practitioners, we put in place a cost-recovery process for advance income tax rulings. Those rulings, as you say quite correctly—around 200 to 225 a year—are binding on the agency.

Public Accounts committee  Very briefly, we do plan on doing exactly as you did mention. We're going to look at how well are we managing the files and whether or not we can do a better job at that. At the same time, as you suggested in an earlier question, we are going to talk with practitioners and with individuals who are....

Public Accounts committee  My understanding is that the list of technical suggestions, as Brian said, tends to be technical in nature and not on policy and not of huge significant materiality. Off the top of my head, and I'd have to go back and verify, I don't see any large amounts in any technical suggestions we would have provided to the finance department.

Public Accounts committee  If we did, then that was incorrect. There's a database that was intended to capture and help us manage the identification, analysis, and eventual, if you wish, filtering out of technical suggestions that eventually find their way over to the finance department, where they're picked up with a similar system.

Public Accounts committee  It's the technical issues database.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, it is very simple.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. We have and certainly respect and value very much professionals and practitioners, who are really part of the tax system, and probably even a larger part of the tax system than we are. We have a quite intense and regular interaction with a number of associations and groups.

Public Accounts committee  Well, it's included in income, so it depends on the income of that particular corporation.

Public Accounts committee  As the commissioner mentioned, we charge about $2.1 billion a year in terms of interest charges to corporations, and we reassessed about $4.6 billion, I think it was, in the last full year. So that puts that $30 million in a bit of context. You're dealing with the largest corporations in Canada.

Public Accounts committee  To supplement that a bit, the provision for advance deposits is important for many corporations in Canada. It does allow them to prevent the interest and other charges that could be significantly damaging to a corporation, particularly because they're not deductible. We want to ensure that where the provision is being used legitimately that it continues to be available to corporations.