From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Canada Revenue Agency defends tax-collection practices: CRA SOTW   
      
   By Jason Fekete, Postmedia NewsMay 7, 2013   
      
   OTTAWA — The Canada Revenue Agency maintains it will have the necessary   
   resources to track down tax cheats and chase after $29 billion in uncollected   
   tax debt, despite facing significant funding and staffing cuts.   
      
   Senior CRA officials defended their tax-collection practices Tuesday to the   
   House of Commons finance committee, a week after the federal auditor general   
   highlighted the agency is owed $29 billion in uncollected taxes.   
      
   Two broader CRA compliance programs, which include efforts on fighting   
   domestic and international tax evasion, will see more than $100 million and   
   hundreds of staff cut from them over the next three years.   
      
   The official Opposition NDP grilled CRA officials Tuesday over how they expect   
   to collect the owed tax revenue and fight tax evasion when the agency’s   
   staffing and budget are being slashed.   
      
   “Won’t it make it even more difficult to achieve compliance with these cuts?”   
   said NDP national revenue critic Murray Rankin. “How are you going to deal   
   with all of that money that is not being collected?”   
      
   Rankin highlighted there has been a decline in recent years in the number of   
   CRA full-time employees in the international audit and aggressive tax planning   
   programs — before more than $300 million in additional budget cuts are   
   implemented.   
      
   The auditor general, in a report released last week, said Canada’s tax agency   
   has improved its ability to collect revenues, but still lacks a clear strategy   
   to snare all the money owed to the federal government.   
      
   The CRA hasn’t implemented some of its own recommendations to better collect   
   debts, and may be letting risky files fall through the cracks, the auditor   
   general said in his report.   
      
   Senior CRA officials, however, said Tuesday tax collection and enforcement   
   remain a priority and won’t be affected by job cuts, which will total more   
   than 2,500 over the next few years.   
      
   The CRA is implementing new measures and investing in collection programs to   
   snare the $29 billion in uncollected taxes, officials stressed.   
      
   “That is actually one of our priority projects,” said Mark Perlman, the CRA’s   
   acting chief financial officer and assistant commissioner in the finance and   
   administration branch. “We are aware of this situation. We have put a number   
   of measures in place.”   
      
   Yet, the CRA’s efforts on the file seem to be producing mixed results.   
      
   The Canada Revenue Agency’s total uncollected tax debt has soared roughly 60   
   per cent to $29 billion in the last seven years, at the same time the cost of   
   “doubtful accounts” unlikely to be collected has more than doubled to almost   
   $12 billion.   
      
   The CRA has, however, also significantly increased its collection of other tax   
   debt in recent years, collecting $40 billion in 2011-12.   
      
   The NDP has been asking for National Revenue Minister Gail Shea to appear at   
   the finance committee to explain her department’s efforts on offshore tax   
   havens, an issue being studied by the committee.   
      
   But Conservative MPs on the committee voted down the NDP request last month,   
   saying her input isn’t needed because CRA officials had already spoken to the   
   committee on that matter.   
      
   jfekete@postmedia.com   
   Twitter.com/jasonfekete   
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