International Trade committee  Yes, that's fair.

International Trade committee  Yes, that's fair.

International Trade committee  The decision to go with 1% was a decision for the minister, so that is a question you should probably put to the minister.

International Trade committee  When we're briefing the minister, we brief the minister on absolutely all aspects of the tax. You can imagine that all relevant considerations, such as cost-benefit analyses, are included in our briefings. Yes, the minister would have been briefed on—

International Trade committee  It's not something I'm at liberty to provide, unfortunately, because it forms part of the advice to the minister. I apologize. I'm not trying to be awkward. It's just that as officials, the advice to the minister is confidential, and we're not at liberty to discuss it.

International Trade committee  The way I would answer is that when it comes to a municipally imposed tax, they have much more information and much more control to have the tax apply in very specific areas. When you're applying a tax at the federal level, it needs to be applied consistently across Canada. We try to introduce rules that would apply consistently across Canada, based on population statistics.

International Trade committee  Rob can maybe take this a bit further, but when you're developing a tax, it generally has to apply consistently. You have to use consistent and understandable measures across the country. We chose rules that were consistent and measurable across the country. Rob, would you like to supplement that?

International Trade committee  We provide advice to the minister on lots of different aspects, so that would include the constitutional risks, the tax risks and all of the policy considerations. Unfortunately we're not at liberty to discuss the advice we would have given the minister on that issue, but yes, it was considered.

International Trade committee  To that specific question, no, we have not received any notice.

International Trade committee  We, as officials, did not specifically consult with the provinces prior to the introduction of the tax. The consultation was certainly open to any and all voices, so we would have very happily received any commentary that would have been provided by municipalities, provinces, areas, etc.; however, very little, if any, was offered.

International Trade committee  It's effective for the 2022 calendar year, so the conditions start applying as of January 2022. The first returns were to be filed by April 30, which was subsequently moved to October 31, 2023.

International Trade committee  The tax is in effect. We are receiving feedback, as I said, because people have become aware of the tax. For people who are negatively impacted, they're reaching out to us to let us know what their concerns are, and we're taking all of that into consideration and briefing the minister accordingly.

International Trade committee  For the most part, the Department of Finance generally receives feedback in the negative sense, and not in the positive sense. This isn't just the case for the underused housing tax, but for all taxes. It's not too often we receive positive feedback.

International Trade committee  I'll let Rob supplement my answer, but I will begin by saying that in general at the federal level there is a bit of a dearth of data on how this sort of tax might apply across Canada. Where there are instances of data available at the provincial level, absolutely we certainly did take that into consideration.

International Trade committee  I don't know how many of you are aware, but there are similar types of taxes that are imposed at the municipal level, and they are relatively straightforward. You have your roll number. You just click a button and you can do it in a matter of seconds. That's largely thanks to the fact that municipalities have access to property ownership data and can reach out directly to property owners.