Evidence of meeting #25 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was question.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Corporate Services Branch, Department of Finance
My sense would be that it is for the transparency of those costs.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Okay, I appreciate that.
I have one more question for the CRA.
You're paying out to the provinces the softwood lumber agreement piece. I don't see anywhere else where you.... To me, you're the tax collector, not the payer. Are there any other programs under which you actually pay out, in a sense? Why is the softwood lumber agreement attached to you and not to, say, Natural Resources or another department altogether?
Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
Are there other programs where we pay out? Absolutely. There's a lot of tax credits.
Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
It also includes childcare benefits and all that stuff.
The policy lead on the softwood lumber agreement is, of course, under the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, but they do not have the domestic machinery in place to actually deal with the over 1,000 producers, dealing with the provinces, and the ability to do all of the financial work that is required. So we were tasked with the administration of the agreement.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
When I look at the 17%, or whatever number it is off the top of my head, increase in your budget this year, a fair chunk of that is the implementation of the softwood lumber agreement payments. Is that part of that number?
Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
In terms of the overall year-over-year increase, it's the vast majority of the number. Part of that is because we've only been at this for a while. Last year's mains didn't have it. It was covered under the supplementaries. This is the first time you're actually seeing it in the mains.
As long as we have an agreement, this will be a recurring charge.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
We have three rounds, but the Liberals are not going to take their round. As a result, you can actually continue for a bit.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
I have one question.
You did mention that the supplementaries are important to you guys. I am assuming it is because of the budget timing. What should we, as the finance committee, be expecting in terms of supplementaries from you guys this year that is not captured in the mains? If you have any idea what that would be, I'd appreciate it.
Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
I can't speculate on an amount. There's a process, of course, to do that and you'll hear about it in due course.
Certainly you have to go back to the 2009 budget and the measures in there that we are tasked with administering. Perhaps the single most noteworthy thing would be the home renovation tax credit, and that will certainly be featured in the supplementaries or whatever funding mechanism is available to us over the coming year.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you.
Do the Liberals want a quick round? We can get a quick question from the Liberals and the NDP to finish up this round.
Ms. Hall Findlay, please.
Liberal
Martha Hall Findlay Liberal Willowdale, ON
Thanks very much.
Going back to the TFSA, I want to ask about the advertising expenses. It's something we're dealing with in the supplementaries, but I'd like some confirmation going forward of the amount that has been allocated or spent, or to be spent, in terms of advertising.
The concern was that in the CRA piece there were $6 million allocated for advertising of TFSA, which seems an awfully big number, given that the banks seem to have been doing a lot of advertising for TFSA. Then we learned that a significant portion of the finance advertising budget—which is a big budget—was also allocated for TFSA.
As a quick question, maybe I can get some confirmation of the advertising budget from CRA that was allocated to TFSA. And if somebody from Finance can confirm it, what portion, how much money from the Finance advertising piece was dedicated to TFSA?
Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Revenue Agency
We have a figure, and I will ask Mr. Ralston to give it to you.
Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Commissioner, Finance and Administration Branch, Canada Revenue Agency
There's an amount of $6 million in our budget for an advertising campaign for the 2009 tax season, next year's. It's going to be similar to this year's. In other words, the focus this year was on taking advantage of the various tax measures available to individuals. I believe we're going to pretty much follow that same theme for next year. It's not in any way connected to tax-free savings accounts. It's more the general program of taking advantage of the credits available to individuals.
Liberal
Martha Hall Findlay Liberal Willowdale, ON
Could somebody from Finance tell us about the portion of the advertising budget?
Executive Director, Corporate Services Branch, Department of Finance
In the 2008-09 supplementary estimates (B), an amount of $5 million was provided to the department for advertising related to TFSA.
Liberal
Martha Hall Findlay Liberal Willowdale, ON
So that's $5 million. Actually it's $11 million, acknowledging $6 million not just for TFSA—Finance also had another $5 million.
Executive Director, Corporate Services Branch, Department of Finance
In the last fiscal year.
Liberal
Martha Hall Findlay Liberal Willowdale, ON
For the record, that's a lot of money, when the banks seem to have been spending an awful lot of time, effort, and money advertising TFSA themselves. One might question the value of the government's advertising the same thing.
Alan Freeman Assistant Deputy Minister, Consultations and Communications Branch, Department of Finance
I'm Alan Freeman, assistant deputy minister for consultations and communications, Department of Finance. Just to make it clear, the $5 million allocated to TFSA by the Department of Finance was spent in 2008-09. There's nothing in the estimates for the finance department to spend on tax-free savings account advertising in 2009-10.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thanks.
Ms. Hughes, you may ask a brief question, and then we'll deal with our travel budget request.
NDP
Carol Hughes NDP Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON
My question is for Mr. Rochon. A little earlier you said that the economic forecasts found in the budget were rather conservative. I have three quick questions.
We are beginning the second month of the new fiscal year. Have things changed? At this moment, would you make any changes to your forecasts? Have corporate tax revenues dropped more quickly than what was expected in January?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
In general, we are always analyzing and trying to understand what is going on within the economy, particularly these days. Indeed, there is a great deal of change going on, be it in terms of economic development or from a budgetary point of view. This is a very turbulent period.
With regard to corporate taxes, at the current time in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, corporate tax revenues are slightly lower than what we had forecast in the budget. On the other hand, if we take a more global look at all the financial forecasts, at the current time they seem to be pretty much in keeping with what we provided in the budget.
As for your more general question about a review of our forecast, we have not made any definitive decision in this regard. It will be up to the minister and the government to decide when to give another update.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you.
I want to thank you all for coming in today and for responding to our questions on the estimates. It's been a very informative session. If anything has to be followed up, please provide that information to the clerk as soon as possible and we will ensure that all members get it. We want to thank you for your attendance here today.
Colleagues, I have a couple of housekeeping items. First of all, next Tuesday from 9:30 to 10:30 we have a meeting in this room with a delegation from Pakistan. I believe it's members of their finance committee.
The second thing is the request that I hope to be making to the Liaison Committee today with respect to our proposed short trip to Washington. You all have the travel budget request and the justification for travel in front of you.
Can I get someone to move these?
Mr. McKay.