Simplified tax system might be the answer for government’s embattled CRA
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on November 24, 2017.
We have all experienced the frustration of trying to get through to a real person in government but once we are through most of us believe the information provided is accurate. Apparently not. According to Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s report this week, more than 50 per cent of the people who called Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) were given wrong answers to their questions. That is particularly scary when you realize this is verbal information. What are you going to say to a CRA agent telling you that you did something wrong on your tax return — “I talked to a man at your offices on April 6 and he told me to do it that way?” You have nothing in writing to back you up. Over a two-month period earlier this year Ferguson’s office called the CRA to determine the accuracy of information being given.The misinformation could result in tax returns that were incorrect, paying too much or too little or perhaps missing out on tax benefits they were entitled to. There is more. All those times you struggled to get through and had to call again and again, the CRA is guilty of actually blocking calls, 29 million of them each year, so that they can say they don’t keep callers waiting more than two minutes. Ferguson says Canadians are having to call four times a week in an effort to finally reach someone they can talk to . . . and even then the information only has a 50-per-cent chance of being accurate. It is not clear whether it is the process for call centre staff to go through to find the answers that is part of the problem but it clearly indicates we have a very complicated tax system. The CRA receives about 53.5 million calls each year and in the last four years has spent $50 million of our money to improve the service. National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier has said we should start to see things improve next year when a quality control team will improve things. The auditor-general’s report said the CRA is obliged to provide “complete, accurate, clear and timely information to taxpayers” under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Government is supposed to be about service to citizens and government workers are supposed to be “public servants” but we seem to have got far off track. It is time to stop spending all this money on programs that don’t work and are an exercise in frustration for the ordinary person. A flat rate of tax for each and every person would solve the problem. It would certainly cut down on the questions and all the lengths people have to go to in an effort to follow the rules and try to take advantage of any tax benefits. It may even solve the problem of the very wealthy stashing their assets off-shore. (Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to https://www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions or call her at 403-528-8635.) 16-15
