Madam Speaker, I understand the member's point that we should stop fiddling with it. However I say ask the taxpayer on the street how we arrive at the amount of taxes due by him and he will say he does not know. We add up the income, take a percentage, and that is what is due. That was the old way of doing income taxes.
Many of my former clients ask me why it has to be this complex when 40 years ago it was a dead simple one page form. We have added and added complexity. Today we cannot get by without our computers. Even as an accountant I have to rely on a computer to do the complex forms because I feel it is more accurate than trying to figure it out myself.
The time people have to spend even trying to get their minds around complex issues like the cumulative net investment losses. That is where a loss which may have been claimed five years ago comes back to hit you with a bill for interest because you had forgotten that you claimed for a deduction five years ago and it now affects your taxes payable this year.
There is no need for that. It used to be that your income this year was what you reported and that was it. Now we have RRSPs that have a multiyear basis, capital gains for a multiyear basis, cumulative net investment losses on a multiyear basis, and on and on and on.
There seems to be no end to the opportunities the government takes to add complexity rather than simplicity to the tax return.