CRA call centre staff blocking calls, giving taxpayers incorrect information: AG
- Thread starter Mowich
- Start date
COMMENTARY: With great tax-collecting power comes great responsibility to taxpayers
The CRA, of course, has endless resources at its disposal, whereas individual Canadians do not. As the lawyer for the Samaroos put it to me, “even if you win you’ll lose.”
Back in 2008, the Samaroos were charged with 21 counts of tax evasion after the CRA accused them of stealing $1.7 million from their Nanaimo, B.C., restaurant. Three years later, they were acquitted of all charges.
READ MORE: The CRA makes it so hard to get the disability tax credit, many don’t even try
The Samaroos believed that they had been the victims of a gross injustice, and so they sued the CRA for malicious prosecution. As was made clear in the ruling earlier this month from B.C.’s trial court, “gross injustice” only begins to describe it. “High-handed, reprehensible, and malicious,” are some of the words used by Justice Robert Punnett.
His ruling makes for some harrowing reading. For one thing, there was never a case against the Samaroos to begin with. The judge found that “the charges never should have proceeded” and that senior CRA investigator Keith Kendal “knew that the necessary evidence was not available.”
It gets worse. Not only was there “suppressing and misstating of evidence” but “inculpatory evidence was created.” Created. Let that sink in for a moment. Any decent person would be shocked by this, but instead “CRA employees looked forward with unprofessional glee to the plaintiffs’ anticipated conviction and sentencing and their resulting ruination.”
Essentially, the judge is saying here that CRA officials went out of their way to destroy the Samaroos and then laughed about it. As the judge himself says, “The manner in which the prosecution was initiated and carried out was egregious. It must be denounced.”
It absolutely must be denounced, in the strongest possible language. And that needs to start at the top with those elected officials who oversee the CRA. An agency with the resources and the power of the CRA simply cannot be allowed to run amok.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4087408/rob-breakenridge-cra-abuse-samaroo-case/
So, the government is so badly in need of funds that they are now engaging in attempted theft.
The CRA, of course, has endless resources at its disposal, whereas individual Canadians do not. As the lawyer for the Samaroos put it to me, “even if you win you’ll lose.”
Back in 2008, the Samaroos were charged with 21 counts of tax evasion after the CRA accused them of stealing $1.7 million from their Nanaimo, B.C., restaurant. Three years later, they were acquitted of all charges.
READ MORE: The CRA makes it so hard to get the disability tax credit, many don’t even try
The Samaroos believed that they had been the victims of a gross injustice, and so they sued the CRA for malicious prosecution. As was made clear in the ruling earlier this month from B.C.’s trial court, “gross injustice” only begins to describe it. “High-handed, reprehensible, and malicious,” are some of the words used by Justice Robert Punnett.
His ruling makes for some harrowing reading. For one thing, there was never a case against the Samaroos to begin with. The judge found that “the charges never should have proceeded” and that senior CRA investigator Keith Kendal “knew that the necessary evidence was not available.”
It gets worse. Not only was there “suppressing and misstating of evidence” but “inculpatory evidence was created.” Created. Let that sink in for a moment. Any decent person would be shocked by this, but instead “CRA employees looked forward with unprofessional glee to the plaintiffs’ anticipated conviction and sentencing and their resulting ruination.”
Essentially, the judge is saying here that CRA officials went out of their way to destroy the Samaroos and then laughed about it. As the judge himself says, “The manner in which the prosecution was initiated and carried out was egregious. It must be denounced.”
It absolutely must be denounced, in the strongest possible language. And that needs to start at the top with those elected officials who oversee the CRA. An agency with the resources and the power of the CRA simply cannot be allowed to run amok.
https://globalnews.ca/news/4087408/rob-breakenridge-cra-abuse-samaroo-case/
So, the government is so badly in need of funds that they are now engaging in attempted theft.
There was much writing in the Nanaimo rag about this a few weeks ago. Somehow I doubt the politicians have the guts to really look into CCRA just in case they get audited.
I wonder how many other people are currently embroiled in an unlawful pursuit of taxes by the CRA, ts.
Really? Well maybe you should take over the Minister of Revenue's job since you apparently think you know more about it than the former and current one does. Or perhaps you think you know more than all the people at the district tax offices who have agreed over the years that I filed correctly.
The problem was already explained to me. The hard copy tax forms haven't caught up with technology yet. One page 1 of your tax return there's a line to report your spouse's net income. However, unlike every other line on the return, there isn't a little black numbered box beside it. Those little boxes are what the computer software uses to assess your return. So in effect their computers aren't recognizing the data point. Which is ironic considering the CRA has no f*cking problem finding my address on page 1 of my return.