Canada’s tax system is long overdue for an extensive review, argues Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) in a report released Wednesday. The organization has also made recommendations for what a review of this sort should entail.
The Best Way Forward: Designing a Tax Review for Canada builds on previous reports which made the case that Canada lags behind its international peers when it comes to tax reform, and that an overly-complicated tax system puts a strain on individuals and businesses.
Canadian professionals agree, CPA Canada says. In one of its recent surveys, 79% of senior business professionals said they would support the government in undertaking a comprehensive look at the country’s tax system — something that was last done in the 1960s.
“With the growing chorus for change, if the government does not announce this much-needed initiative in the next federal budget, we hope it and other parties will show their commitment by making a tax system review a key pledge in their campaign platforms for the upcoming federal election,” said Joy Thomas, president and CEO, CPA Canada, in a statement.
A review of Canadian tax policy should focus on the following, CPA Canada says: making the tax system simpler, fairer, more efficient and internationally competitive; simplifying and modernizing the tax policy that underlies the system; and ensuring changes to the CRA and tax administration that ease compliance for taxpayers.
CPA Canada says it isn’t alone in the call for a comprehensive national tax review, but joined by “leading think-tanks, parliamentary committees, the Advisory Council on Economic Growth and international bodies including the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Monetary Fund.”