Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the important issue of tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance brought forward by my colleague the member for Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie. I will be splitting my time this morning with my friend and colleague the member for Brampton East.
First, let me state unequivocally that the Government of Canada is committed to combatting international tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. We believe every Canadian must pay his or her fair share of taxes, period.
Last year's budget introduced a number of measures to combat tax evasion and avoidance and to improve compliance, actions that will help ensure that everyone does their share and pays their fair share.
Furthermore, they support the objective of an economy that works for the middle class and not those who seek to skirt our tax laws or otherwise gain an unfair advantage. Tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance by individuals and businesses have a fiscal cost to governments and to taxpayers. They reduce the fairness and integrity of the tax system. They shift the financial burden onto Canada's middle class, while often benefiting those who may be more than capable of paying their own fair share.
This is why our government took decisive action through budget 2016 to crack down on tax evasion and to combat tax avoidance. Budget 2016 invested $444.4 million over five years to enhance the Canada Revenue Agency's assessment capabilities through the hiring of more auditors and specialists who will have the resources needed to undertake more expansive and comprehensive investigative work.
These investments to support CRA's efforts to crack down on tax evasion and combat tax avoidance are expected to generate approximately $2.6 billion in additional taxes over five years.
With the benefit of these new resources in the last year, CRA has begun reviewing all taxpayers and certain segments of the population identified as high risk. The agency is using external data and publicly available information to maximize its effort to identify non-compliance.
The CRA has also toughened its response to leaked lists of taxpayers with offshore holdings. For example, with the Panama papers, the CRA has more than 76 taxpayer audits under way, and extensive data is currently being reviewed. The CRA has also executed search warrants, and several criminal investigations involving both participants and facilitators are ongoing.
However, we also recognize that assessing tax revenues alone is not enough. Once we do an assessment we need to be able to collect the unpaid amounts and that is why budget 2016 invested an additional $351.6 million over five years to improve CRA's ability to collect these outstanding tax debts. This is revenue we will be investing to help strengthen and grow our middle class.
Indeed, creating an economy that works for the middle class and those working hard to join it is what guided our actions right from the start of our mandate. As one of our first actions in December 2016, we introduced the middle-class tax cut. Nearly nine million Canadians are now benefiting from this measure. Single individuals who benefit are seeing an average tax reduction of $330 every year, and couples who benefit are seeing an average tax reduction of $540 every year.
Also with budget 2016, we put more money directly into the pockets of low- and middle-income families through the Canada child benefit, a more generous, tax-free, and better targeted benefit that is lifting hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty. The CCB is giving nine out of 10 families with children more money every month to spend on everything from school supplies, to school clothes, to sports equipment. Families benefiting have seen an average increase in child benefits of almost $2,300 during the 2016-17 benefit year.
These actions and others are helping to strengthen and grow the middle class and our economy. However, we also know that more needs to be done. We need to make sure that our tax system functions as intended and that it is fair, effective, and equitable.
We will continue to take legislative and other actions on both the international and domestic fronts to ensure that Canada's tax system is fair and works for the middle class.
Globally, Canada has been a very active participant in efforts to address international tax evasion and avoidance. Canada is an active member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, which was established to ensure that high standards of transparency and exchange of information between jurisdictions for tax purposes are in place around the world.
Canada has also developed an extensive network of bilateral tax treaties and tax information exchange agreements, and it is party to the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which provides for exchange of tax information. This allows the CRA to obtain information from foreign tax authorities on Canadian taxpayers' investments and activities in foreign countries that is relevant for Canadian tax purposes.
To build on this information sharing, Canada recently adopted legislation to implement the common reporting standard developed by the OECD and endorsed by G20 leaders. Canada is one of more than 100 jurisdictions worldwide that have similarly committed to implement this reporting standard, which provides a framework under which the tax authority in a country will share information, securely and automatically, on the financial accounts held by non-residents in that country with the tax authority of the country in which the account holder is resident. This House has recently passed legislation to implement this standard, starting on July 1 of this taxation year.
Canada has also been actively engaged in a second multilateral initiative aimed at addressing base erosion and profit shifting, commonly known as BEPS. This refers to certain tax planning arrangements undertaken by multinationals, which often through legal means exploit the interaction between the tax rules of different countries in order to minimize taxes. Canada has already implemented a number of the BEPS project recommendations, and going forward, the government will continue to work with the international community to ensure a coherent and consistent response to BEPS filing going forward.
Canada supports the important goal of improving corporate transparency worldwide. The Government of Canada has agreed to international standards developed by the Financial Action Task Force and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in support of corporate transparency. The proceeds of crime, money laundering, and terrorist financing regulations include requirements for financial institutions regarding the collection of information on beneficial owners of corporations.
Taken together, all of these actions are consistent with the basic principles of fairness that define us as a nation. Canadians should have confidence that their tax system has integrity. This is what tax fairness is all about. By taking action to prevent tax evasion and close tax loopholes, we will improve the fairness and integrity of the tax system, and contribute to fiscal sustainability both at home and abroad. We believe that our plan is the right one to improve the integrity of Canada's tax system.