Mr. Chair, I'll start by clarifying our definitions of tax evasion versus tax avoidance, and note that, as mentioned in the Auditor General's report, the Auditor General focused on aggressive tax avoidance and not on evasion.
As far as what we see as tax evasion goes, it's when somebody intentionally under-reports revenue or over-claims expenses. There's often a criminal intent to deceive. In the case of avoidance, however, taxpayers in Canada can legally avoid their taxes in a number of ways. Avoidance is provided for in the legislation. RRSPs are an example. However, when somebody interprets the legislation and goes beyond the intent of that legislation, that's what we call aggressive tax avoidance. The four issues described in the report are examples of what we at the agency see as aggressive tax avoidance.