Evidence of meeting #71 for Finance in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amount.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
No, but you would have an amount allocated for new measures, would you not? You knew that the tax rate had changed, so you knew there were going to be some additional costs regarding the general tax rate, whether it was changed from 17% down to 16% or 16.5%.
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
To the extent that there were still measures relating to earlier budgets or economic statements, they would have been factored in. But this is dealing with items since last year's federal budget.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
So the $30.6 million is in addition to some moneys that you've already appropriated in the estimates for the year.
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
Yes, but it wouldn't be double counting in terms of--
Liberal
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
It's a supplementary estimate, so it's an additional amount on top of what would have been voted as part of our regular budget for 2006-07.
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Just to build on Mr. Pacetti's line of questioning and just for clarification for committee members, there is the issue of income splitting for seniors, which the minister has spoken to, and the legislation will be forthcoming, How does the agency deal, then, with something like that? Is that considered in your just-filed estimates, or does that wait until the measure is actually implemented by the House of Commons?
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
That measure comes into effect for this current tax year. So it will be manifest in next year's filings. We are currently doing the preparatory work to determine what the administrative requirements would be to administer the splitting of pension income. That would be reflected, I suspect, in the next omnibus submission to Treasury Board this spring.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
So this committee would see that in the supplementary estimates (A) in the fall, probably.
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be fully represented in the supplementary estimates (A). That's correct.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
No, but the mains have already been released. So they'd come out in the fall, in the supplementary (A) estimates.
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
No. We would be making a submission to Treasury Board as soon as we could, but it would not be reflected until....
Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Commissioner, Finance and Administration Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
The mains have just been tabled. We didn't have any amounts, with the exception of the universal child care benefit, that were known at the time of the mains to implement 2006 budget items, so that means that if there are ongoing costs related to the 2006 budget.... The supplementary estimates that we're dealing with today deal with the first-year implementation costs. Any additional costs--the tail, as we refer to it--will have to appear in a subsequent supplementary estimate, and ultimately in a subsequent main estimate, but not in 2007-08.
The timing was off.
Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
Just again for the sake of the committee, this is a pattern that the committee will see year after year, because of the timing of the budget. You will see any cost associated with implementation of budget measures coming out in supplementaries (A) and, to a lesser extent, supplementaries (B). It depends on how complex the measure is and how quickly we can work it through the system and come up with a figure.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Thank you.
We will now proceed to the vote.
CANADA REVENUE AGENCY
Department
Vote 1b--Program expenditures..........$35,407,000
(Vote 1b agreed to on division)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Shall the chair report vote 1b under Canada Revenue Agency to the House?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Brian Pallister
Thank you very much.
Witnesses, all the best.
Committee members, staff, you've earned some time in your ridings to pre-campaign.
Mr. Pacetti, a point of order.
Liberal
Massimo Pacetti Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
I'd just like to read in a notice of motion that I will be putting in writing. It will take 30 seconds to read it into the record.
Conservative