Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise in the House to follow up on a question I asked the Minister of National Revenue about the Auditor General of Canada's report, which shed some light on some troubling aspects of management within the Canada Revenue Agency. This information is extremely troubling and I would like to go over some of the figures with the parliamentary secretary to see whether they are still accurate.
At the time, there were at the CRA 171,000 files related to objections to notices of assessment. Average taxpayers submit their income tax returns. It is timely that we are discussing this right now, because this is the time of year that we submit our tax returns to the CRA. The agency assesses the information and data in the return as it is submitted, and then it sometimes sends a notice of assessment to indicate that the return contained some errors and the taxpayer owes the CRA more money than originally thought.
In this situation, the taxpayer has the right to object to the Canada Revenue Agency's position and to state that the report was completely reliable, that it included all the necessary information, and that the information was correct. If the CRA maintains the opposite, the taxpayer can initiate a process that can be very lengthy, and that is what the Office of the Auditor General revealed. In fact, cases of objections can sometimes go on for more than two years before the CRA responds. The taxpayer submits his or her tax return, the CRA responds that it is not quite accurate and that the taxpayer owes one amount instead of another. At that point, the taxpayer can file an objection. It can take the CRA up to two years in some cases to provide more specific information about an existing dispute.
The Auditor General, who raised this issue a few years ago, had to raise it again in 2016 because there were still major problems with Canada Revenue Agency delays in responding to notices of objection. Processing takes four times longer than in other countries similar to Canada. It takes four times longer for people to get responses to their objections than in other countries. In Canada, it can take as long as two and a half years to get a response.
When I raised this matter, the Minister told me that “an action plan to reduce processing times for objections is already being drawn up.” She even added, “It will be completed in early 2017.” It is now April 4, 2017, so there is no better time to ask the question. Considering that it is already April, what is the status of the action plan that the Minister of National Revenue promised to complete in early 2017?
I would like more information about this action plan that we are all, including the Auditor General, waiting for. The Auditor General made eight recommendations, and the minister said that she supported and welcomed them all. Where is the action plan that was to be delivered in early 2017? It is now April 2017.