Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
Thank you again for inviting me to appear before this committee. Though I've had the opportunity or privilege in the past to appear on a number of occasions, I thought I'd introduce myself to the committee members because only
Mr. Caron is still on this committee.
My education includes degrees from Western University, in finance and accounting from the Ivey Business School; from Queen's University law school; and I have a master's and doctorate from Stanford University, primarily focusing on international tax law. I'm the author/editor of 12 books and over 50 academic articles published in the world's leading tax journals. I've served as a legal consultant to the OECD, the Department of Justice, the Office of the Attorney General of Canada, the Department of Finance, and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as well. My most recent article that's relevant to this committee is entitled “Big Data and Tax Haven Secrecy” published two months ago in Florida Tax Review. It involves the first analysis of the first mega data leak obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, made public in 2013. In fact, I had been retained a year and a half prior by the CBC to assist the journalists in understanding that leak, and I've just published my research results.
In my brief comments, I thought I'd start by striking a positive tone in that for the last three years, beginning with the Harper administration and now with the Trudeau administration, we've actually seen some progress in this area. Some of the positive steps include the whistleblower laws, embedding tax lawyers at the CRA, bringing back the criminal investigation unit—that was critical—and the dedication of more resources to auditing.
In terms of the road ahead, some of the recommendations that I would offer this committee would be an ongoing commitment from the senior leadership at CRA to tackle the problem of offshore tax evasion. I think there is a problem with the coordination among the federal agencies—FINTRAC, CRA, and Justice and so on—which could be improved. The incentives for the crown prosecutors need to change. I'd like to see more penalties when warranted by the CRA for gatekeepers, accountants, and lawyers who engage in reckless, negligent, or willful blind advice to their clients.
In the past I've recommended consolidated reporting for multinational corporations. We have something similar that's arisen, namely country-by-country reporting. I have technical recommendations to make in that area, but I'll just mention one today. Specifically, in meeting with FINTRAC recently, I only then became aware that we have suspicious transaction reports that trigger FINTRAC's interest, but, more importantly, there is no law that triggers a suspicious activity report that gives a bank official the ability to report an activity. U.S. prosecutors and prosecutors elsewhere have relied on these for successful pursuit of offshore tax evaders.
Those are my comments. Thank you.