Finance committee  Thank you. Going to the original question, I don't think we can talk to the impact of previous decisions around funding of the CRA, but based on the discussions we have with them, they are trying new things, especially in dealing with issues around non-compliance, both in terms of penalty and in terms of getting people to come forward.

Finance committee  Yes, thanks. As I mentioned before, we think that reviewing the entire system makes sense, but through a lens that looks at whether the system is too complicated for people to comply with. That has to be one of the key questions as you look. I wouldn't be looking for one-off fixes.

Finance committee  I'll jump in on this one. I generally agree with that. I think that the CRA stays involved, though, because they have the expertise on tax matters. I'll be honest with you that I'm not quite sure how other legal authorities are brought into the process, but I think the CRA remains part of it.

Finance committee  It's actually difficult to say what the key ones are. Maybe I'll deal more with what should be done, because it will probably be the same steps no matter what the issue is. We've talked about tax evasion a lot. We've talked about tax avoidance. Strictly speaking, tax avoidance is reducing your tax legally, at least under the international definition.

Finance committee  I think the issue is that there have been more changes, and they do layer them on top. I think that's the issue. We were talking about interest deductibility last week with a group and there are three or four different sets of rules that apply when you're talking about international interest deductions.

Finance committee  Thanks. As I sort of alluded to before, I think the issue that the CRA has been facing is an either-or kind of thing. On the one hand, they want people to come forward. If they're going to be penalized, they aren't going to come forward, so if someone's thinking that they'd like to become compliant, handing them a penalty if they do is not going to help bring them around.

Finance committee  Sure. Maybe I'll talk about the voluntary disclosure part first and then the court case part. Voluntary disclosures are tough. You don't want to be too easy on the people who maybe were intentionally not complying, but at the same time you want to make sure that those who want to be compliant can come forward and do it in a reasonable way.

Finance committee  I assume that's still to me. It should be. The idea is that the corporate minimum tax would fill in the gap. If you have a company in Canada that's headquartered here and does business in another country, the corporate minimum tax would bring the effective tax rate up to 15%. The idea was that if they were paying 5% in the other country, then you'd be able to charge another 10% on income attributed to that country in Canada.

Finance committee  From my perspective, I don't know if I have any.... We have a criminal system and a civil penalty system. I think if it's deemed that they're not sufficient, I think they should probably be reviewed. I don't think I have any other ideas.

Finance committee  Maybe I'll start with the first part of the question. I do know that a lot of businesses took exception, I guess, to the suggestion that they were somehow doing something wrong, and I'd agree that the majority aren't. The issue is the underground economy. There are still business people and other people doing activities in the underground economy.

Finance committee  Well, I don't think I'm really in a position to comment on the ethics side. I think it's incumbent on all of us to be compliant taxpayers, though, and I know that our members—CPAs—work with people who want to be compliant taxpayers and do the reporting that needs to be done.

Finance committee  I was listening to the conversation last week. I'm not sure that they were auditing small businesses generally. What Mr. Gallivan said agreed with what I thought. They were doing reviews of the assistance programs, so maybe that was part of it. They were reviewing the wage subsidy applications and later the rental applications.

Finance committee  No, not really. I believe Quebec actually does have a rule that compares tax positions taken by companies when they enter into contracts with them. I think there might be something there to look at.

Finance committee  Maybe I'll jump in, if that's okay.

Finance committee  There were a number of important changes in the budget. I mentioned the mandatory reporting: There will be more requirements to report transactions and plans that are more aggressive. They're going to show a list of transactions and also whether the transactions have one of the three hallmarks.