Finance committee  I was actually the expert witness for our association in dealing with civil penalties, and we hashed that out for months. We're beyond that; we've changed our code of conduct to allow us to try to avoid those situations, but that's an inevitability.

Finance committee  We don't want our comments to be misconstrued that any particular individuals, whether members of our profession or not, are not doing their job. My impression, when reviewing the CRA Act and what it tried to accomplish for the agency, in becoming an agency, is that I think there's a lot of area for improvement.

Finance committee  Thank you.

Finance committee  We only have two minutes. I'll try to answer in the 30 seconds that we have left. It depends on the question. There are some questions that would be industry-related. As far as personnel are concerned, there are a lot of CGAs and other professionals employed by CRA. That's been a positive thing with the changeover; it has allowed them to retain more professional talent.

Finance committee  To give an example, we have a discussion list in Ontario that has over 1,000 members on it, most of whom are practitioners. So when I actually see the question and I say go forth and get feedback and then they come back, I can only assume it's a representative sample of the membership.

Finance committee  My understanding is that they have attempted to develop a culture where these are not power brokers. When an auditor goes to a client they should treat them with respect; they're either a business person or an individual. Unfortunately, in an organization as large as CRA with the many staff they have, promoting that culture has not yet filtered all the way through.

Finance committee  Absolutely.

Finance committee  There is an intent, both stated and implied, that CRA sees itself as becoming the sole tax-collecting authority for all forms of tax, over whatever period—five years or ten. I would suggest that this government limit the ability to do that, which I believe is allowed under the act.

Finance committee  To answer from the point of view of complexity and the potential for conflict, the government of the day, approximately six years ago, introduced what is known as the civil penalties legislation, which places a direct financial risk and burden on me as a tax professional to ensure that my clients are in fact complying.

Finance committee  How have they not done so?

Finance committee  If you want specifics, I'm not sure if I can provide them, due to the confidentiality and privacy laws we're now all subject to. Our firm has offices across Canada, and we compare notes on what people are experiencing from an audit perspective. We see this a lot when it comes to the rather contentious issue of employee versus self-employed--independent contractors.

Finance committee  That's a somewhat difficult question to answer, because there are many different levels at which personnel operate. I can say from personal experience that service from the front-line people when you call the 1-800 number is worse than it was before. But from a district manager level on up, it has perhaps become better, in that these people are actually now willing to speak with you if you request that the issue be elevated.

Finance committee  I believe a comment would be good, because I firmly believe that part of the CRA's job in administering the tax act is to ensure that the intent is carried out, and if this committee or the government expresses a desired intention, then they should be mindful of that intention in the way they administer their policies and practices.

Finance committee  That's a very loaded question. To answer your question in light of the different decisions that might be rendered in one jurisdiction or another, I do not believe in my experience and the experience of practitioners that I have discussed this with across the country that that is as a result of regulation.

Finance committee  Quite frankly, the legislation talks about records; it doesn't necessarily specify that they must be paper. But it is the position of the tax department, in almost every audit we encounter, that those records need to be paper-based to be produced--in most cases. But look at today's business world.