Canada Revenue Agency owed $29-billion as uncollected tax debt soars 60% since 2006 audit

The Canada Revenue Agency’s total uncollected tax debt has soared about 60% to $29-billion in the past seven years, at the same time the cost of “doubtful accounts” unlikely to be collected has more than doubled to almost $12-billion.

The CRA has, however, also significantly increased its collection of other tax debt in recent years — resolving $40-billion in 2011-12 — demonstrating it’s having mixed results in snaring the tax dollars owed by Canadians.

Corporate tax revenues higher despite lower rate

Corporate tax revenues coming in to Ottawa were up slightly last year, even as the Conservative government was in the midst of an aggressive plan to lower the corporate tax rate.

The federal government raised $31.7-billion from corporate taxes in the fiscal year that ended March 31, up from $30-billion in 2010-11.

The new data on corporate tax revenues will be examined closely in Ottawa, where debate over the appropriate rate has been a dominant theme of recent election campaigns. The NDP built its election platform on the assumption that a higher corporate tax rate would bring in billions in additional revenue. Advocates of the Conservative tax cuts argued that there would be little to no impact on federal revenues because the lower rate would attract foreign investment and increase the number of corporate taxpayers.