Thank you.
My question is for Mr. Gallivan. I have to say, having been audited in the past, that the word “empathy” is never a word I've thought of when I have thought of the tax man. It's an interesting concept. Let's hope it actually takes.
We've seen CRA grow by 15%, give or take, over the past five years, and yet the revenues they've generated from those new employees haven't really grown at the same rate. Canadians can expect that these investments will lead to things like catching more tax cheats who are using offshore shell accounts to launder money, which then comes into our country and damages housing affordability. Instead, we've been seeing CRA going after small mom-and-pop shops during the pandemic. It looks as though CRA is more lenient on big tax cheats but throws the book at the little guy. It appears the government doesn't even have the will to go after those who have enough money to hide it offshore, and when they do catch them, they protect their identity and let them walk with a small fine. Compared to how other countries are dealing with the issue of offshore tax havens, Canada looks very permissive.
How can we fix this problem since throwing money at the problem hasn't made much of a difference with regard to taxes collected so far? Why should Canadians believe that adding more people would have any better results?