The first recommendation dealt with timely assessment of tax returns. Really, this is about bringing tax certainty to taxpayers. Currently in the Income Tax Act, there's no requirement that a return be assessed within a specific period of time; it just says “with all due dispatch”. So practically speaking, the Canada Revenue Agency can take as much time as it wants before it assesses a tax return, which then starts the period for statute-barred. So it's a matter of bringing certainty to the taxpayer of when that statute-barred period will end.
If it takes a long time for a return to be assessed--granted, the taxpayer does earn interest on what's being held--small businesses can use that money in their businesses far better than the rate of interest they're earning on a refund. Those are the two key tenets: getting the cash back to taxpayers if there is a refund, and bringing tax certainty to when that statute-barred period will end.
The second one had to do with the intergenerational transfer. The key to this recommendation is that in upcoming years there will be billions of dollars of wealth transfer to the next generation. A major driver of the Canadian economy is small business. With the current tax structure, there are opportunities for tax to be levied where there's no cash on the table. Effectively, that could end up killing small businesses that are driving the economy in cases where they are transferring to the next generation. Our recommendation revolves around taking a look at these provisions to make sure we're appropriately taxing those taxpayers at the appropriate time.