CRA Bankrupts BC Couple Over Nothing Part 2 of 2 :CRA SOTW
Alan Baggett
Tory MP Compares Revenue Agency to Hezbollah
By Glen McGregor, The Ottawa Citizen April 25, 2009
A Conservative MP who intervened in a dispute between a constituent
and the Canada Revenue Agency likened the government's tax collector
to the terrorist organization Hezbollah and alleged it "abuses"
Canadians.
Dick Harris also called the agency "bastards" in an e-mail to the wife
of a businessman he was trying to help deal with the CRA over an
erroneous $1-million tax bill.
"One cud (sic) almost compare Revenue (Canada) to the Hizbolla
(sic) ... terrorists both of them," he wrote. "Hang in there, I am on
your side and will keep fighting these bastards." The message was sent
in August 2006, six months after Harris began sitting as member of
Stephen Harper's Conservative government.
Hezbollah, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, is a
radical Islamist group founded in Lebanon in the 1980s. It calls for
the destruction of Israel and its military arm has used terrorist
tactics, including kidnappings and suicide bombing, to advance its
agenda.
Harris's harsh characterization of the CRA comes as an unusual
statement from a member of the government, which is funded by money
that the revenue agency collects.
Harris, MP for the B.C. riding of Cariboo-Prince George, declined to
comment when shown a copy of the e-mail on Friday. When asked if he
still held the same view of CRA as expressed in the e-mail, he said it
was a matter between him and a constituent.
In another e-mail message to constituents Irvin Leroux and his wife,
Jill Moore, Harris said he had spoken to then-revenue minister Carol
Skelton about their case. He said Skelton had told him she would use
the case an example for a taxpayer's bill of rights and to illustrate
how the CRA abuses Canadians.
Leroux's tax dispute began in 1996, when he claimed the CRA lost
copies of business records for his B.C. campground, he told the
Vancouver Province. Without documentation of his expenses, Leroux was
left owing about $1 million in personal taxes and GST. When he
challenged the amount in the Tax Court of Canada, the CRA backed down
and cancelled his tax bill.
Leroux claims the legal battled forced him to sell his home, business
and other assets. He has filed a lawsuit against the CRA seeking
compensation.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
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