Thank you very much.
Coming from an education background, I want to focus on the fourth theme that the commissioner brought up, which is learning from objections and appeal decisions.
Mr. Hamilton outlined the 166,000 outstanding objections, 55% of which are group files that concern such disputes as tax avoidance arrangements, such as gifting tax arrangements.
I came across an article from a CTV news report in 2014 that talks about the thousands of Canadians who have fallen victim to tax schemes run by promoters who encourage them to donate. Oftentimes these programs are sold in such a way that they lead Canadians to believe that they're doing something good, to help buy medicines, for example, for people in poor countries.
The article states, “It's all cloaked in philanthropy, but to date, nearly six billion dollars worth of these donations have been denied by Canada Revenue officials.” It goes on to say that according to the CRA, “to date, not a single gifting tax shelter audited has been found to comply with the Income Tax Act.”
While some of the donors might have taken a calculated risk in participating in those programs, it strikes me that a lot of Canadians are participating because they've been duped. They've been told that they're doing something good for those in need.
I recognize and respect the Auditor General's report in that it focuses on how to resolve objections in a timely manner, but I really want to make the connection here.
We're talking about learning from objections and appeal decisions. Is there room for improvement? Can we not do a better job at educating Canadians on schemes such as this that then result in objections and appeals? Rather than, as you said, oftentimes having lead cases go through the courts, which can take year after year after year, clogging up our processes and the resources that your department has, can we nip it in the bud? Can we not do a better job before all this happens, to educate Canadians so that they don't fall for schemes that ultimately we know, based on past experience, will not work?