The narratives about “closing tax loopholes” never really die, and lo, they have come back yet again on the campaign, as Jagmeet Singh hopes to use this as a campaign plank, and to basically start extracting a dollar figure from them. The problem? Well, that’s basically misunderstanding the problem with these “loopholes” – they’re a game of whack-a-mole. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t tackle them, because you should, and successive governments have been doing that for decades, but as soon as you close one, the well-funded tax preparation industry finds another that they can exploit, and all of that money that a government may have been hoping to recoup doesn’t appear.
Can somebody ask which loopholes he proposes to close?
Just saying he’ll “close loopholes” is hand-waving. Governments close loopholes every single year. There is an industry devoted to finding new ones every time one closes. https://t.co/R1M89dkWAD— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) August 30, 2021
https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1432361687361933312
https://twitter.com/LindsayTedds/status/1432362354314993667
Additionally, Singh alleged that Justin Trudeau was somehow directing the CRA to not go after large corporations, and that he isn’t charging the “super rich” tax evaders. But again, this distorts reality – the CRA is an arm’s length agency from government, and free from political direction, and don’t direct audits or collection activities. Yes, the current government has provided more funds for CRA to undertake those activities, but they can’t tell them who to audit. Additionally, when CRA finds a file that they deem suspicious, they forward it to the RCMP, and if they feel that there is criminality, they forward it to the Public Prosecution Service – which, again, is arm’s length and not subject to political direction – and they decide whether or not to lay charges. Thus far, they have not with some of the high profile investigations into the Panama Papers, or other such leaks, likely because they know their chances of a successful prosecution are slim because these particular practices wind up being legal in the long run, no matter how often governments try to crack down on them. Regardless, Singh trying to portray this as either cronyism or a lack of political will is not reflective of reality.
The CRA is arm’s length from government and Cabinet cannot direct it to perform audits, just like Cabinet cannot direct the Public Prosecution Service to lay charges.
The CRA advanced a lot of tax files to the RCMP, who then sent them to the PPS, who declined to lay charges. pic.twitter.com/JpDJHxvgaw— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) August 30, 2021
Also not reflective of reality – some of the hand-waving he’s been doing in other interviews, such as this one where he says he’ll “get it done” on ending the deferral period for blood donations for men who have sex with men – never mind that Canadian Blood Services is arm’s length from government and not subject to their orders. You can’t Green Lantern your way through government. Implementation of your ideas matters – a lot.
There is a lot of hand-waving in this interview, but this is one of the hand-waviest answers. He was asked for specifics, which he refused to give. “Just getting it done” doesn’t address the fact that CBS is arm’s length from the federal government. https://t.co/MWurvZuTpY pic.twitter.com/MwNAmeqrWa
— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) August 30, 2021