A while back you will remember that there was a lot of heat created over off shore investors who were enthusiastically avoiding paying taxes on their money. The other major countries were aggressive both in their investigation and their action.
The Canada government had no alterative but to try and follow suit and show that they were going to crack down on off shore evaders, even though the government lagged behind it getting on par with the other countries.
Then again to follow in our neighbors’ footsteps the government introduced the snitch program. You know the one where a person can contact the CRA about other parties that might be involved in off shore tax evasion, and if their information is solid and leads to the recouping of unpaid tax dollars then the snitch would get 15%.
Although many tax payers basically like to adopt a “mind your own business” attitude, many were in favor of this new get the tax evader concept because it showed that the CRA was also now really going to go after the big tax evader, and not the average delinquent tax payer who had fallen on hard times and couldn’t keep up with their tax obligations.
Now in the past we have often seen that when the CRA is going to crack down on the average business person, and the small businesses that they have incorporated their new tough rules pretty darn quick. So it only makes common sense that we should have expected to see this new snitch program in full swing by now.
However, unless many of us have missed something there doesn’t seem to be any action going forward on this get tough rule. Yet it was introduced by the Government with great flair touting how good this government is when it comes to fair tax play.
I guess overall we shouldn’t be shocked by this as we have all sort of settled into the concept that in Canada the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
As much as this lack of action may leave you with distain for our tax department and government in general it doesn’t take away from the fact that the CRA will not be slow to come after you the average tax payer to file your taxes and pay what you owe. So let Sam Seidman help you keep on track with your taxes here at Toronto Accountant.
