Finance committee  We have 3,000 members in the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, and 80% are small businesses, so I can't disagree with you that tax reductions for small business will drive the economy. We're not suggesting that tax cuts at the large corporate level go below what they are, but it is significant to represent that our corporate tax rates in Canada now are far below U.S. corporate rates.

Finance committee  One of the principles we believe about the taxation system is that the taxation system is there to tax taxpayers appropriately. It's not the government's purpose to be involved in business. The government's purpose is really to facilitate business. The corporate tax reductions you're talking about, in a lot of views, really do facilitate that.

Finance committee  I think generally in the Edmonton chamber a lot of our members are basically saying that from a tax review perspective, it's time to review the tax system from the ground up. I don't think any of our members are opposed to paying tax. What they are opposed to is a tax system that is complex for them to understand.

Finance committee  Absolutely. We believe that a good review would have to be non-partisan and, as Martin said, from the ground up.

Finance committee  I think it has been 40 years since the Carter commission was undertaken. A lot has changed in 40 years in terms of the economy in Canada and taxation. What we're basically saying is, let's take a hard look at our taxation history, because really, what happened in 1972 was that some strong recommendations came out and major tax reform occurred.

Finance committee  My primary area of practice is cross-border tax. I deal a lot with the United States. One of the major advantages of the Canadian taxation system is that we have tax integration in Canada, meaning that if you earn a dollar personally versus earning a dollar in a corporation, and are ultimately paying that out to a shareholder, you pay about the same amount of tax.

Finance committee  The first recommendation dealt with timely assessment of tax returns. Really, this is about bringing tax certainty to taxpayers. Currently in the Income Tax Act, there's no requirement that a return be assessed within a specific period of time; it just says “with all due dispatch”.