Poll says CRA Service is Deteriorating :CRA SOTW
Alan Baggett
Tax agency service deteriorating, poll says
Small business group complains of delays
Eric Beauchesne, Canwest News Services
There's been a deterioration in the quality of service provided to
small businesses by the Canada Revenue Agency, an organization of
small and medium-sized firms charged yesterday.
Only 11 per cent of business owners indicated they are receiving
better service than they did three years ago, while nearly double that
proportion say service has worsened, the Canadian Federation of
Independent Business (CFIB) noted in releasing the findings of a
survey of more than 8,000 small business owners.
"Our latest survey results clearly show that small and medium
enterprises feel that delivery of our tax system is flawed and
unfair," it said.
Some of the greatest deterioration has been in the tax department's
promptness in replying to queries and in its provision of information
that clearly explains tax measures, said Garth Whyte, CFIB's executive
vice-president.
"It is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to receive
timely information from the Canada Revenue Agency," complained the
report, which also drew on input from 472 tax practitioners that are
both small businesses as well as providing services to small firms.
This is costly to smaller firms, and adds to their already high
compliance costs.
This hurts not only the firms themselves and reduces tax collection
efficiency but it also reduces the overall performance of the Canadian
economy, Mr. Whyte said.
Canada Revenue Agency did not immediately respond to requests for
comment on the report.
Meanwhile, the perceptions of the small business tax practitioners on
the change in the quality of service are even more negative than those
of the business owners, the report noted.
Just over half indicated that service has worsened, double the
proportion who felt that way at the time of the previous survey in
2004, while less than one in five, 18 per cent, indicated it has
improved, the survey said.
And only 10 per cent described the current level of overall service as
good, while four times that proportion, 42 per cent, deemed it as
poor.
Business owners are only slightly more positive about the overall
current level of service, with 14 per cent indicating it is good but
23 per cent deeming it poor.
Mr. Whyte said that discussions with senior tax officials who are
sympathetic to small business concerns about service suggest that
their efforts to improve service are just not getting down to the
department's front line staff.
To improve the level of service might require a concerted effort,
including service performance reviews, to stress to department staff
that their mandate goes beyond merely collecting taxes, he suggested.
The findings of the survey -- conducted from December through February
-- also suggest the federal agency may not have enough staff, he said.
And the report noted that the agency is operating in the same labour
market where attracting and training new staff is a challenge.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2008
AND
Revenue agency gets poor grade
Concerns grow over services and tax collection
Garth Whyte, Financial Post
The art of taxation consists of plucking the goose to get the most
feathers with the least possible amount of hissing. This has been the
aim of government tax collectors as early as the 1600s when Jean-
Baptiste Colbert, a French finance minister of that century, said
these famous words. It seems the hissing from Canadian taxpayers,
especially small business owners, increases year by year. Their
complaints are not just about the level of taxation -- in fact it
could be argued taxes on small business have decreased in some areas.
No, the growing concern is about how the taxes are collected and the
service provided by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
In response to growing dissent, CRA last year released its Taxpayer
Bill of Rights with the "commitment" to small business "to streamline
service, minimize costs, and reduce the compliance burden." Last week,
on the bill's first anniversary, the Canadian Federation of
Independent Business released its CRA report card based on more than
8,000 small business respondents and an additional 472 responses from
tax practitioners who provide accounting services to small businesses.
According to the report, CRA is falling short of its goal to improve
service and reduce compliance costs. The survey found the quality of
service has worsened and the compliance burden has increased since the
agency was created in 2001. One in five business owners and more than
half of tax specialists said CRA's overall service has changed for the
worse -- its poorest rating since its creation.
For 39% of business owners and 65% of tax practitioners, the overall
administrative burden had increased in the past three years. Very few
respondents said it had improved. The overall administrative burden of
tax obligations includes wait times, unclear information and other
obstacles business owners have to cope with to comply with the tax
system.
Business owners and their tax advisors feel CRA is not meeting several
of its commitments listed in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. For example,
the bill included "the right to be treated professionally, courteously
and fairly" yet one in four business owners said treatment by CRA
staff was poor and 50% rated accessibility of staff as poor.
Only 6% of respondents said the agency was meeting its commitment to
apply the law consistently. Thirty-nine per cent of business owners
and 58% of tax advisors said consistency of telephone enquiries were
poor. Similarly, it is falling short of its commitment to provide
complete, clear and timely information--45% said readability and
simplicity of information was poor. Three out of four tax advisors and
one in two business owners said promptness of written responses was
poor. Only 10% of respondents said it was good.
These results suggest there is serious room for improvement. There is
also concern that while CRA's senior management says its goal is to
improve service and reduce compliance burden on business owners,
frontline employees are not getting the message.
The introduction of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights was seen as a step
toward making the system fair and improving service delivery. However,
today it seems it was merely a public relations exercise. The Bill of
Rights needs to be applied in practice, not just in spirit. This is
crucial if we intend to become more efficient and competitive as an
economy. CRA needs to develop a culture that seeks to help taxpayers
rather than intimidate them. The agency needs to measure, reduce and
improve the tax compliance burden on small businesses. Until then
Canadian taxpayers' discontent with CRA and disillusion with the tax
system will continue to grow. - Garth Whyte is the executive vice-
president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which
represents the interests of small and medium-sized business and
lobbies on behalf of its 105,000 members at the federal, provincial
and municipal levels.
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