Madam Speaker, I listened to my hon. colleague's comments with interest. It would be nice if all the debates in the House of Commons were as thoughtful, well researched and reflective as the one we just heard. Unfortunately that is not the case. Too many people read from prepared texts and so on that someone else has written.
Today we are talking about income tax. I suspect that when people hear that term they get crinkly feelings up and down their spine. There are probably hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of Canadians sitting in their offices, their homes, their factories or plants just dreading the time when they have to go home and get out all those little pieces of paper, T-4 slips and so on and start filling out that bloody form.
The Constitution says we are not allowed to impose cruel and unusual treatment on people. I suspect asking people to fill out their tax returns is a form of cruel and unusual treatment. It is a painful experience.
The other day I ran into some young people who are self-employed. They are in the consulting business. They were absolutely livid because they fill out their tax returns, work very hard for all their money and have to send off cheques and cheques, all this cash to the federal government. They felt depressed. They were so frustrated. It is almost a form of self-mutilation.
People sit down at a desk, with papers piled all over, trying to figure out what the hell that form says. They read through the explanations and that is complicated, step by step. There are computer programs now. The laugh of the century was this elderly woman came to my office in Kamloops the other day and said “I just filled out my tax return and I do not understand parts of it. I wonder if you could get me a copy of the tax act”. She was thinking this was a little book, something like a little handout.
One would need a pickup truck to take home the tax act and all the explanatory booklets that go with it. Madam Speaker, I know how bright you are and some of my friends across the way, but I can guarantee that no one could understand it. Nobody can understand it. I will bet there is not a person in the world who understands this pickup truck full of tax law.
Let us test the crowd. We have some very intelligent people here. Let me pick up one of the little copies and I will randomly choose an item. I must admit I have not looked at this but I am going to read this and ask my friends, particularly my Liberal friends across the way, to follow carefully, then there will be a test afterward.
It goes like this. The minister may grant exemption from this application of the provisions from this act, other than the provisions set out in sections 14 to 19, or to any investment company, if the minister is satisfied that (a) the business of investment carried on by the company or a significant portion thereof is of short duration and incidental to the principle carried out by it, or (b) the company, although incorporated after January 1, 1972, primarily for the purpose of carrying on the business of investment and it intends to remain a company described in subparagraph 2(3), or subsequently from 5(2) to 5(17), or (c) it is not necessarily in the public interest that this act apply to the company, having regard to the purpose of the act and to any one or more of the following factors: (1) the persons to whom the company is indebted in respect of money borrowed by it, or (2) the amount of the indebtedness by the company in respect to the money borrowed by it, or (3) the nature of any security given by the company in respect of money borrowed by it, and (4) the extent of the integration of the company's activities with the activities of its subsidiaries, if any, and with the activities of any corporation of which it is a subsidiary and any other subsidiaries of that corporation.
Then we go to subsection 2. Here the minister, if he decides, may revoke an exemption granted under subsection 4. If subsection 4 does not follow subsection 2(b) and the minister ceases to be satisfied that any of the criteria referred to in that subsection are met, then when exemption from this application is granted under subsection 2 or subsection 15, following 2(b), then the corporation, after January 1, 1972 that is, if it is primarily for the purpose of carrying on the business of investment, then this exemption shall not be revoked.