Filing tax returns in Canada has become increasingly complex over time. It's not just the existing government but it's also prior governments that have made things a lot more complex in Canada, and we can see this going back to, say, 2015. There were changes to section 55 that were very complex and it makes it very difficult for many businesses to structure their affairs and look at the best overall corporate structure for their business because there is so much ambiguity in what they do.
There's complexity in structuring, in filing and for individuals. The specified corporate income changed in 2016. We've made a correction for farmers and fishers this year but a lot of other businesses are still impacted by that. There probably were unintended consequences to it. I will touch on one of those in a minute, if that's possible.
We also have complexity even with respect to something as simple as selling a house in Canada. With the changes that have been made to combat some of the issues going on with houses and principal residences in Vancouver, for instance, or in Toronto, those now have to be reported. Essentially, it is very difficult for an individual to file their personal tax return on their own and get it right, with the complexity of today's system.
For instance, I had an email from some person I've never met who found my name on the Internet around the 29th of April asking a big, convoluted question about selling their house. They were asking what to put on their tax return and how to file it. I gave them a recommendation to find an accountant who would help them at that point because it was beyond their being able to do it on their own.
Going back to the specified corporate income, for instance, there are businesses in Canada that are also caught up in these changes that we believe were unintended. Those changes were meant to capture multiplication of the small business deduction.
If a computer sales business, for instance, happens to have a client that is a marketing firm and that marketing firm has, let's say, three business owners, one of whom is related to the owner of the computer company, that computer company could lose access to their small business deduction, and they don't even know it. That's not multiplication of the small business deduction but they've been caught in these rules.
I think there are problems with the complexity and the compliance because it is so complex.