Canada's Auditor General Criticizes The Government's Legislative Track Record

Citing a backlog of at least 400 proposed technical amendments dating back to 2002 and at least 250 comfort letters issued by the Department of Finance going back to 1998, Canada's Auditor General has questioned the government's effectiveness in identifying, developing, interpreting and applying technical amendments which clarify the Income Tax Act but do not change tax policy. In her Fall Report to Parliament released on November 3, 2009, the Auditor General noted that the last income tax technical bill was passed in 2001, and concluded that priority issues addressed in comfort letters are also not being legislated on a timely basis. The audit also found that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has not met its own time targets for issuing advance income tax rulings to taxpayers over the last three years, and has not effectively notified taxpayers when technical information provided in its interpretation bulletins no longer reflects current CRA policy.