Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This report we are studying is quite extraordinary. It is just a horrific read, in that it describes how the agency has failed to apply the Income Tax Act fairly to all Canadians. The fairness of the system is critical in a self-reporting system. Canadians need to know that their agency is applying the law fairly.
Minister, I'd like to bring your attention to page 6 of the report. It is going to be particularly troubling to Canadians to learn that the agency would automatically disallow the expense as an eligible income tax deduction when the agency requests a document and a taxpayer fails to provide it in 90 days.
That's if you're an individual, not, for example, somebody with an offshore transaction. The report goes on to say that the agency, if the taxpayer has offshore transactions, would allow “months or even years” to comply. In some cases, the agency, having not obtained the information at all, would just close the file without assessing any taxes.
How is that applying the law fairly to Canadians and having and achieving a client-focused agency?