Mr. Speaker, we in the official opposition take very seriously the concerns of the disabled in this country. For persons with disabilities, normal activities bring extraordinary cost not by choice of the disabled.
On behalf of disabled Canadians and the additional challenges they face on a day to day basis, I rise again to ask the Minister of National Revenue why his department continues to harass the disabled and their families by forcing them to remit payroll deductions on tax-free government grants?
When I presented this question to the minister on February 23, he responded that the issue in terms of tax collection is that the law has to be obeyed.
Obviously, as a self-styled former economist-banker, the minister fails to comprehend that it is the tax laws that are the problem. Currently there are no measures in place to protect disabled people or their parents from being potentially ruled as employers by the Canada Revenue Agency.
When determining if an employer-employee relationship exists, CRA bases its decision on the results of several tests that are applied to all cases. The problem is that these tests do not recognize the special circumstances involved when disabled people have a professional caregiver come over to their home to assist in their care. This flaw in the system has resulted in disabled individuals and the families of disabled children receiving grants for the purpose of assistance with the care of their disabled children being deemed employers by the CRA.
Families are being forced to make payroll remittance payments out of their own pockets and are being burdened with the responsibilities of an employer at a time when their number one concern should be the care and development of their disabled child.
The government's 2005 budget states that a fair tax system evolves over time to reflect changes in the economy and society.
I call on the Minister of National Revenue to recognize that the time has come for his department to evolve on this issue. I refer the minister to his government's own report entitled “Advancing the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities”. It found that while 80% of Canadians believe there has been some progress in including people with disabilities in Canadian society over the past decade, only one in ten believe these individuals are fully included today.
Why does the CRA continue to enforce hard and fast rules when dealing with the disabled and their families?
I draw to the minister's attention recent decisions by the Federal Court of Appeal and the Tax Court of Canada that give the disabled and their families new hope. In the precedent setting Poulin case, a disabled Quebec man won his case against Revenue Canada when the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that he was not an employer.
The court ruled that it is the intention of the parties that should be considered when determining the relationship between them as their perception of the relationship may be linked to the compassionate motive of the services rendered to the disabled individual. In this case the caregivers considered themselves to be self-employed and the disabled man never intended to act as an employer.
Disabled Canadians and their families should not be forced to fight for years in tax court to avoid CRA harassment when they receive a grant to allow for full participation as active members in society, rather than being institutionalized. It is time the minister and the government acted to remove the department's imposed barriers to societal inclusion and stop this attack on the disabled and their families.