Madam Speaker, as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of National Revenue, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the member for Random—Burin—St. George's and the fishers for sharing their concerns about the taxation of fishers who gave up their fishing licence under the Atlantic groundfish licence retirement program.
I want to point out that the Canada Revenue Agency is the custodian of very sensitive and confidential information provided to it by all taxpayers and benefit recipients.
We must handle this information very carefully, in accordance with the confidentiality provisions of the Income Tax Act.
In view of those provisions, which protect the information provided to us, we cannot publicly discuss the details of an individual taxpayer's case.
That said, I can appreciate that the fishers and their families have questions and feel frustrated about what can sometimes be a difficult process.
These men and women have said that income tax was incorrectly or unfairly applied to the payments they received from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
I must point out that this situation has been carefully examined by the Canada Revenue Agency since the late 1990s, and following the creation of the Atlantic groundfish licence retirement program.
Moreover, under due process of the law, the taxation issue was taken before the Tax Court of Canada, which announced its ruling on November 21, 2007.
The Tax Court of Canada confirmed that the payments received by the fishers under the Atlantic groundfish licence retirement program represented proceeds of the disposition of capital property and thus were taxable.
It is true that we do not always appreciate taxation rulings and sometimes challenge them.
Nevertheless, the fairness and integrity of Canada's tax system is based on uniform application of the law.
It applies to all of us in the same way, impartially, and is not subject to individual interpretation.
This is the only way to protect the integrity and the world-class standards of the Canada Revenue Agency. It is also the only way to protect all Canadians in order to ensure taxation equality.
It is important to note that the Income Tax Act includes objection and appeal rights for taxpayers who do not agree with their assessment.
Along the same lines, as per the legislation that guides our actions, the right to appeal must be exercised in a particular way and by a prescribed deadline.
The legislation also sets out the circumstances allowing extensions and the duration of extensions.
The Canada Revenue Agency does not have the discretionary power to grant objection and appeal rights beyond those set out in the Act.
Acting against the Income Tax Act would not only be illegal, but also undermine the system that ensures fair and equal treatment for millions of Canadian taxpayers.