Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the parliamentary secretary's speech, and I would like to welcome my colleague back to the House.
One thing she mentioned in her speech seems particularly important to me. She talked about simplifying the tax system. As everyone knows, the Income Tax Act was adopted in 1917. At the time, it was only about 10 pages long. Now the act is 3,000 pages long. The bill before us covers technicalities and seeks to do away with tax loopholes and ensure greater fairness. This bill would make the Income Tax Act almost 4,000 pages long, which is a major problem. To my knowledge, no other Canadian law is as long as this one.
Canadian accountants, businesses and even individuals have written to tell us that the current system is really too complex for them to understand all of the finer points of the legislation. On their behalf, I would like to ask my colleague, the parliamentary secretary, two questions.
First, even if this bill closes tax loopholes, how can she justify calling it a simplification when it will make the Income Tax Act nearly 33% longer?
Second, does the government intend to truly simplify the Income Tax Act someday?