Conservatives failing to fight tax cheats

Canadians playing by the rules and filing their taxes demand fairness

OTTAWA –New Democrats are demanding accountability from Conservatives for their continued failure to bring an end to the billions of dollars lost through tax evasion.

“It’s unacceptable that the Conservative government has done nothing to stop tax evaders from cheating Canadian taxpayers out of billions of dollars,” said NDP National Revenue Critic Murray Rankin. “For the seventh time in seven years, the Conservatives are talking tough on tax havens but continue to let tax evaders off the hook.”

New Democrats called on the Minister of National Revenue to appear before the Commons finance committee and defend cuts to the Canada Revenue Agency’s resources to fight tax evasion. The government’s recently released Reports on Plans and Priorities for the Canada Revenue Agency shows that hundreds of millions of dollars are being cut form the Agency’s assessment and compliance divisions.

Independent estimates suggest that Canada could be losing between $5.3 billion to $7.8 billion annually in tax revenue as a consequence of the illegal use of tax havens. Despite repeated demands from the NDP, Conservatives refuse to even measure the cost of tax cheats to Canada.

“Instead of keeping their promise to take action against tax evasion, the Conservatives are going backwards and actually cutting resources to the very agency tasked with catching tax evaders,” said Rankin. “Hard-working Canadians who are filing their taxes right now deserve a government that stands up against tax evaders.”