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15| O akville B eaver | T hursday,S eptem ber 6,2018 insidehalton.com A FEAST FOR YOUR SENSES. TEPPANYAKI GRILL - SUSHI - SASHIMI - DIM SUM www.august8.ca 280 North Service Road W.@ Dorval Oakville 905-338-6228 Call us for reservations 7 LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU. New! Chinatown Location Now Open $2.00 OFF LUNCH ONLY Dine-in,cash only & with this voucher.Offer valid at Oakville Location only. Limit 1 voucher per table. not valid on weekends and holidays $5.00 OFF DINNER ONLY Dine-in,cash only & with this voucher.Offer valid at Oakville Location only. Limit 1 voucher per table. not valid on weekends and holidays ALLYOU CAN EAT LUNCH OR DINNER Thank you Oakville for your Votes! 2018 Multi-Award Winner! 8102 8102 I didn't expect to make new friends. Amica at Oakville 160 Bronte Road 289-514-0058 amica.ca/oakville Join us for a complimentary lunch to learn more about Amica! At Amica you can feel at home. Expect first-class amenities, with a range of personalized services and care to always meet your needs. Wealthy Canadians re-Wealthy Canadians re-W ceive favourable treatment in avoiding paying income tax.avoiding paying income tax.a This is the opinion of those that work at Canada Revenuethat work at Canada Revenuet Agency (CRA). The CRA is our tax collector. Aunion-sponsored survey was conducted by the Profes-was conducted by the Profes-w sional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC). They are the union re- presenting CRA employees. More than 1,700 auditors and other CRA professionals re- sponded to the online survey. One of the statements was "it is easier for corporations and wealthy individuals to evade and/or avoid tax re-evade and/or avoid tax re-e sponsibilities than it is for average Canadians." Nine outaverage Canadians." Nine outa of 10 agreed this was true. The CRA employees sur- veyed included those on theveyed included those on thev front lines of tax collection.front lines of tax collection.f They are in a good position to judge the fairness of tax collec- tion.tion.t The PIPSC report is titled Shell Game: How Offshore Havens, Loopholes, and Fed- eral Cost-Cutting Undermine Tax Fairness. To clarify, theTax Fairness. To clarify, theT federal cost-cutting cited isfederal cost-cutting cited isf from budget cuts in 2012.from budget cuts in 2012.f The survey of CRA em- ployees was conducted in Feb- ruary and March this year. ruary and March this year. r In July, PIPSC commis- sioned Environics Research to conduct a public opinion phone survey of 1,000 Canadi- ans. Almost 80 per cent of those asked, agreed wealthythose asked, agreed wealthyt Canadians were more able to reduce their income tax pay-reduce their income tax pay-r able than average Canadians.able than average Canadians.a The same high number of people both from the CRA and from the general public be-from the general public be-f lieve the Canadian tax systemlieve the Canadian tax systeml is not fair. For a country that prides itself on fairness, that is a dismal result. This serious fairness im- balance of tax collection in Canada is not new. In 2015, Canadians for Tax Fairness released a report andFairness released a report andF came to the same conclusion. "Despite government's assur- ances that taxpayers are treat-ances that taxpayers are treat-a ed fairly, the CRA is anything but fair," states the report.Tax collection is an important part of any country's gover- nance. Taxes pay the bills for services enjoyed by citizens. Fairness and transparen-Fairness and transparen-F cy are critical components tocy are critical components toc any financial matter. Tax col-any financial matter. Tax col-a lection should be fair for all Canadians regardless of wealth or lack of it.wealth or lack of it.w Peter Watson, of Peter Watson Investments MBA, CFP, RFP, CIM, FCSI, offers a weekly financial planning column, Dollars & Sense. He can be contacted through www.peterwatsoninvestment- s.com. CRA POLL: WEALTHY ARE FAVOURED WHEN IT COMES TO INCOME TAX OPINION TAX COLLECTION SHOULD BE FAIR FOR ALL CANADIANS, WRITES WATSON PETER WATSON Column