June 23, 2021 – Data from the Canada Revenue Agency shows its recent efforts to combat tax evasion by the super-rich have resulted in zero prosecutions or convictions.

In response to a question tabled in Parliament by NDP MP Matthew Green, the CRA said it referred 44 cases on individuals whose net worth topped $50 million to its criminal investigations program since 2015.

Only two of those cases proceeded to federal prosecutors, with no charges laid afterward.

The lack of prosecutions follows more than 6,770 audits of ultra-wealthy Canadians over the past six years.

It also comes amid a roughly 3,000 per cent increase in spending on the agency’s high-net-worth compliance program between 2015 and 2019 due to a beefed-up work force, according to an October report from the parliamentary budget officer.

Green said federal authorities avoid pursuing Canada’s biggest tax cheats but go after small business owners who don’t pay their taxes under a “two-tiered system” pocked with “loopholes.” Globe and Mail reports. | READ MORE