From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Canada Revenue Agency should warn public about dodgy charities earlier: CRA   
   SOTW   
      
   Toronto Star Editorial   
      
   Too much charitable good needs to be done with too few dollars for fraudsters   
   to be allowed to operate unscathed.   
      
      
   Published on Tue Oct 27 2015    
      
   When citizens are donating their hard-earned dollars to charities, they should   
   have every reason to believe their money is really going to a good cause.    
      
   But what if that's not the case? What if a Canada Revenue Agency audit   
   indicated that donations were not going to charitable goals, but to $27,000   
   worth of comic books, or movie tickets or a family trip to Disneyland -- as   
   was the case for the Humane    
   Society of Canada for the Protection of Animals and the Environment? And what   
   if knowing that, the CRA still did not inform the public?   
      
   Sound unbelievable? It's not. That's why there needs to be a lot more   
   transparency in how the agency oversees Canada's 88,000 charities.    
      
   Consider the group of four charities run by Michael O'Sullivan -- the Humane   
   Society of Canada, Ark Angel Fund, the Ark Angel Foundation and the Humane   
   Society of Canada Foundation -- which have collected $9 million in donations   
   over the last 15 years.    
      
   As the Star's Dale Brazao and Mary Ormsby reported on Tuesday, though the   
   government's charity regulator flagged the Humane Society of Canada for   
   spending infractions as far back as 1998, and the Canada Revenue Agency   
   recommended in 2009 that it be    
   stripped of its charitable status, the organization is continuing to collect   
   donations and issue official receipts to this day.   
      
   The charity hasn't even been suspended or fined, as the agency has the power   
   to do, because O'Sullivan has been fighting the revenue agency's findings all   
   the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, delaying any actions by the CRA.    
      
   This must stop. The agency must be empowered to suspend a charity, even in the   
   midst of legal actions, so it cannot continue to solicit donations for years   
   while the case winds its way through the courts.    
      
   There are other ways the CRA can keep donors in the loop about troubled   
   charities.    
      
   *  First, the agency rightly lists organizations whose charitable status has   
   been suspended on its website. But it gives no indication as to why. That   
   means donors have no way of knowing whether the suspension is for an innocent   
   accounting error that the    
   charity is clearing up, or something much more serious. That should change.   
   The public needs more details to make informed decisions about charities.    
   *  Second, when it is recommending that a charity's licence be revoked, the   
   Canada Revenue Agency should go public and always issue a news release.   
   *  Third, when it actually revokes a charity's licence it should always issue   
   a news release rather than simply publishing the fact in the official Canada   
   Gazette. The more publicity directed at sham charities, the better.   
      
   This is not to say that charities do not have the same right to privacy and   
   protection as individuals when they are being audited by the CRA. No one wants   
   to see charities that are simply undergoing a regular audit being identified.   
   That would taint    
   legitimate charities that have done nothing wrong.   
      
   And no one wants to see a charity that has made an honest error lose its   
   reputation. That's why the government should explain on its website exactly   
   why a charity's licence has been suspended.   
      
   But in the end, the public has a right to know when the CRA believes a charity   
   should lose its licence -- court cases or not.   
      
   During the election campaign the Liberal party promised to invest an   
   additional $80 million over four years to help the Canada Revenue Agency crack   
   down on tax evaders. Part of that money should go to creating a more   
   transparent system on how charities    
   are regulated. Too much charitable good needs to be done with too few dollars   
   for anyone to allow fraudsters to operate unscathed.   
      
      
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   Visit the CRA SOTW Library at http://canada.revenue.agency.angelfire.com    
      
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   Alan Baggett - http://www.taxcollectorsbible.com/ - Tax Collector's Bible    
      
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