According to documents filed in the Gatineau courthouse and obtained by iPolitics, Revenu Québec issued a certificate in March 2012, seeking to collect $27,849 in back taxes from Soudas, the prime minister’s former director of communications. The Court of Quebec Civil Division granted a judgment against Soudas in April 2012.
Andrée-Anne Stewart, spokeswoman for Revenu Quebec, said Thursday that the initial assessment for unpaid taxes was $67,467. To read the court documents, click here.
“This amount differs from the amount claimed in the certificate because there were payments made by the debtor, TVQ (sales tax) credits applied to the balance and corrections to the assessment issued between the notices of assessment and the establishment of the certificate on March 12, 2012.”
In its certificate applying for the judgment in March 2012, Révenu Quebec said its application came after it sent repeated notices of assessment to Soudas over the course of three years between May 20, 2008 and April 19, 2011.
Soudas, who now serves as executive director to the Canadian Olympic Committee, worked as one of Harper’s closest advisors between 2002 and 2011, including as Harper’s director of communications. He and his ex-wife sold their house in Quebec in July 2011. Soudas now lives in Ontario and is engaged to Eve Adams, Conservative MP for Mississauga-Brampton South.
The court records show Soudas’s tax debt was paid in full in June 2012 – two months after the Court of Quebec issued the judgment against him.
Contacted by iPolitics, Soudas said he currently doesn’t owe anything to either the Quebec or federal government – in fact, he said, the Canada Revenue Agency owes him money.
“The reason why this year the federal government owes me money is I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Harper government for lowering taxes, because that is what the government has done consistently and given those great decisions on reducing taxes for hardworking Canadians like myself, I find myself not only paying less taxes but also receiving a return.”
Soudas said he has always paid his taxes and moved quickly to settle the amount owed Revenu Québec when he learned of it.
“I believe that no tax is a good tax. Having said that, throughout my professional life from my first job when I was 13 to today, I have always paid my taxes when taxes are owed.”
Soudas refused to discuss the details of his tax case for the record, or what triggered it in the first place.
Andrew MacDougall, spokesman for Harper, refused to comment on the problems Soudas had with Revenu Québec, saying the prime minister’s office would have had no way of knowing if the Quebec tax agency was sending Soudas notices he owed back taxes.
Soudas’s troubles with the tax collectors began while he was at the PMO. During the past week, Conservatives have thrust the issue of unpaid taxes into the spotlight, seizing on the fact that NDP MP Tyrone Benskin owes Révenu Quebec $58,097 in back taxes racked up between 2007 and 2011. The debt was reported by the Quebecor-owned TVA television network last week shortly after Révenu Quebec moved to garnish part of Benskin’s $160,200 a year salary from the House of Commons.
When the news broke, NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair stripped Benskin of his official languages critic portfolio pending resolution of the debt.
NDP MP Hoang Mai is also reported to be paying off a tax debt.
The Conservatives, embroiled in the Senate expense scandal, quickly jumped on the story.
“I cannot comment on specific cases,” said Revenue Minister Gail Shea in a statement May 24 only hours after the story broke. “All I will say is that Canadian taxpayers are expected to follow the rules and pay their fair share. Based on recent media reports, if the NDP wants to hand out lessons on respecting the rules and paying your fair share, they should start with their own caucus.”
This week, Conservatives raised the issue several times in the House, with cabinet ministers wondering how many other NDP MPs owe back taxes and Calgary Centre MP Joan Crockatt describing failing to pay taxes when they’re due as “irresponsible, inconsiderate and un-Canadian.”
During question period Thursday, Heritage Minister James Moore repeatedly raised the question of the NDP MPs’ unpaid tax bills.
“New Democrat Members of Parliament, two of them at least that we know of, have not paid their taxes,” Moore responded when asked by NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen about the Senate scandal. “What is really corrupt about their behaviour in this file is that an NDP Member of Parliament did not pay his taxes, was taken to court because of a $60,000 tax liability and that same NDP Member of Parliament comes to this place and tables a bill in Parliament to have income averaging for artists because he is an artist.
“His first act, and only act, in this Parliament legislatively is to try to pass a bill to absolve himself of his own tax liability. That is NDP corruption.”
Moore’s broadside prompted veteran Liberal Bob Rae to observe that Moore’s attack on Benskin was one of the nastiest he had seen in the House of Commons.
Murray Rankin, NDP revenue critic, said his colleagues have pledged to pay off their tax bills and it is important for everyone to pay their taxes on time.
“All Canadians must pay their fair share. We all have to pay our taxes.”
In the Soudas case, the documents indicate Revenu Quebec made a number of attempts to collect the taxes from Soudas before seeking a judgment, said Rankin.
“The signed notice … shows that notice of assessments were sent or served regarding Dimitri Soudas. So there were many efforts to collect this money.”
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