Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will say to officials that we are happy and pleased to have you here. It's great to have the detailed information that officials can provide, but members of this committee likely have political questions about the policies and priorities of this government that officials cannot properly answer.
If I may, then, to the officials.... I'm not even sure where to start.
Let's go back to the Auditor General's report in 2018. I've asked this question before. This was a very shocking report. Canadians were disappointed to hear that the Canada Revenue Agency would automatically disallow expenses as eligible tax deductions. This is for ordinary Canadians who don't have offshore accounts and don't participate in complicated offshore tax avoidance schemes. If you're a regular Canadian, you must provide documents within 90 days or you will automatically have your deduction disallowed and taxes applied.
I'm reading right from the Auditor General's report, “For other taxpayers, such as those with offshore transactions, we found that the time frame to provide information was sometimes extended for months or even years”, and often with no taxes applied. Could the officials tell us if it is still the CRA's practice to grant offshore filers seemingly unlimited extensions? If you're a small business operator in Canada, you have 90 days or you lose your deduction.