Finance committee  I do, and I'm just going to turn to clause 31. In clause 31 at proposed paragraph 162(2)(a), striking the words “after the last general election and” would probably fix it.

Finance committee  Yes, “after the last general election and”.

Finance committee  Well, it's about being competitive. It's about being competitive with other trading partners. It's about being competitive to attract businesses here that create jobs that employ taxpayers who pay taxes and put money back into the system. So I think those are important policy cho

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Rankin, for your question. Actually, it's not something we've looked very closely at. We try to refrain from looking at specific tax credits for the simple reason that, when we look at a taxification agenda, we're looking at trying to minimize and streamline taxes

Finance committee  There are some people in this room much better qualified than I am to answer those very specific questions you have, but certainly some of the ideas of going to cash-base accounting would simplify methods. But when we're looking at tax simplification, we do face how big it has gr

Finance committee  We've not done that assessment, and I don't believe there's a number out there. We can find out for you and get back to you. I know the Fraser Institute has done some work on the personal side but not as much on the business side. I don't think there's a number out there.

Finance committee  Yes. We would have language to suggest it is removing a few words out of that clause. That would make it so that the minister would not be restricted and would be tabling the retrospective list of technical tax amendments. It's that growing list from one Parliament to another, o

Finance committee  I think when you look at the total cost of compliance of the tax system, this is an incredible...[Technical difficulty--Editor]...especially on small to medium-sized businesses. I wrote down a magic number here around the total cost of compliance. Only on the personal side, it is

Finance committee  That's only for personal income tax. I think the challenge we have from the small and medium-sized business is that the reliance.... I'm sorry I'm having some trouble with my microphone.

Finance committee  Usually the translators find that I speak very fast, so they may be chipping it off to slow it down a little bit. Essentially it is about the cost of compliance and the reliance on professionals to help them comply with the tax system. It's the uncertainty, and it just adds to t

Finance committee  Thank you. When we saw clause 31 of Bill C-31, we had some concerns around the timelines, and we worked out a table. With the committee's patience, I'll walk you through it. In June 2013, we had Bill C-48, which removed that considerable backlog. Sometime this year, subject to

Finance committee  That's the tendency. It is what it has.... Ideally, in a perfect world, we would want an annual tax amendment bill to be tabled alongside the budget implementation act. That would be the discipline that we would be aiming for, to have it on an annual basis. But that doesn't see

Finance committee  I think the main challenge is around uncertainty. Our tax system resides on a retroactivity aspect. With retroactivity to 12 years, one major problem that we identified when we came forward on Bill C-48 was the fact that taxpayers lose the right to appeal if the measure has not b

Finance committee  Thank you for your question. I did look at the transcript from last week's committee and there is no inventory. There is not a list of legislation that's out there for public comment, although the legislation that is out for public comment is available on the website. But there'

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today to speak to Bill C-31 concerning the government's Economic Action Plan 2014. We appreciate this opportunity. You have come to know us well through our many appearanc