Finance committee  Yes. I have a very quick response to your point about the advisory panel. I may have misspoken, but I meant to suggest the tax simplification proposals of the advisory panel have yet to be implemented. There were a number of recommendations implemented, but they had a couple of d

Finance committee  I think the government's whistleblower program was a good idea. In the past, I've recommended measures like a dedicated office at the CRA that works with the justice department on an ongoing basis. Just as one example, the Auditor General, in chapter nine of his most recent repor

Finance committee  Sometimes one hears about the Norwegian system where it's a complicated corporate tax system. It has effectively abolished the corporate tax and just focuses on what we call consumption taxation. That is touted by Robin Boadway, whom I mentioned earlier, and others as the most ef

Finance committee  Yes, I don't think it's realistic to go back to the War Measures Act of 1917, which a couple of the honourable members here have mentioned, but I do think that the late 1980s reform, broadening the base, even maybe bringing rates down, is feasible in my opinion, but it would real

Finance committee  Well, I think you may be quoting from the Mowat report, actually authored by professors Tremblay and Boadway, but I was on the same panel and I agree with what they wrote. I came to believe in this fundamental reform, what's called a rent-based tax, but I'm not necessarily advoca

Finance committee  I'm sorry, I misunderstood.

Finance committee  I'd hesitate to answer that, sir. I'm not entirely clear on this particular area. I'd perhaps pass that to one of my other colleagues, if I could.

Finance committee  I think it is possible. Again, I recall that the last time this was done with some success was during the Mulroney government in the late 1980s. They did feel significant fiscal pressure at that time, but maybe governments no longer do, so it was a powerful political motivator.

Finance committee  Yes. I don't think anybody would argue that it's become simpler. There was a commission, the Advisory Panel on Canada's System of International Taxation, struck by the Department of Finance in 2008. They investigated tax simplification, had some recommendations, but to my knowled

Finance committee  To my knowledge, most at least similarly situated countries, like the United States, and even England or the United Kingdom, with its permanent tax simplification office have yet to achieve any major victories in this area. From a political perspective, it's obviously very diffic

Finance committee  I would tend to agree with Professor Moffat that it creates an economic drag over time, because many of these incentives often work against each other, and from an economic perspective nobody is sure whether they promote the goals that the legislators initially intended.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you again for the privilege to appear before you. The last time I spoke before this committee was during the FATCA hearings, which were quite contentious. Of course, the budget is very important to all Canadians, but I suspect

Finance committee  I wasn't even aware of that trend.

Finance committee  No, we're not a tax refugee place, Canada, no.

Finance committee  Yes, at least in my view. Again, I understand the chair's similar concerns, but I do believe that there should have been more political push-back. There could be a NAFTA tribunal challenge, other public international challenges under, say, WTO. I do respect the fact that the MP