Mr. Gallivan, in my opinion, this is still a bargain‑basement agreement, especially when we see that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the federal agency in the United States, demanded that KPMG and its clients provide names, and obtained them. The IRS even threatened KPMG in the U.S. with being classified as a criminal organization if it did not hand over its documents.
As for the Canada Revenue Agency, the agreements it has reached are to ask the offenders to pay back unpaid taxes and interest, but at rates lower than those charged to small and medium‑sized businesses and the average person, without imposing any form of penalty. In my opinion, this is borderline illegal and should be considered criminal. That is my beef.
I think there is too much accommodation in the deals being made, and the way KPMG and its clients are being treated sends a message internationally that “Folks, if you feel like defrauding, come try it in Canada, because the worst that can happen to you, once there is an investigation, is that we are going to make you pay your taxes, maybe even for the last 15 years.”
In my opinion, a lot more should be done. Again, this is a political issue that I would have liked to discuss with the minister, but she chose to duck out.