Class Action Suit Against CRA
The following is an article published in the Vancouver Sun about a proposed class action law suit against the Canada Revenue Agency.
This is a good read if you want a summary of what the case is is all about or if you feel you are being abused or bullied by CRA.
The following is a post by Valarie Hall, the individual who is organizing the initiative.
Good Day,
I want you to know that Scarfone Hawkins LLP Barristers and Solicitors Law firm has given the following Case No.: Possible Class Action- CRA-09L9 to the Proposed Landmark Class Action Against the CRA. David Thompson, (P.C.), B.A., LL.B., Partner is the Lawyer who is handling the Possible Action.
Now is the time to act, if you want to help convince them to go forward with this Class Action since it is a worthy cause to litigate because of the widespread abuse of Human and Democratic Rights of Individuals and Small Businesses across Canada, which violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution and the fundamental principles of due process of the law.
You are free to contact them yourself and give them your confidential details of your complaint against CRA and the Minister of National Revenue.
thompson@shlaw.ca
David Thompson, (P.C.), B.A., LL.B., Partner
Scarfone Hawkins LLP
Barristers and Solicitators
1 James Street South, 14th Floor
P.O. Box 926, depot 1
Hamilton, Ontario, L8N-3P9
Phone: 905-523-1333
Fax: 905-523-5878
Have a great day
Valerie Hall
classactioncra@gmail.com
This is a direct quote from what was posted on the web for public viewing.
CANADIAN MINISTER OF NATIONAL REVENUE AND CANADA REVENUE AGENCY Complaints â ABUSE OF CANADIAN CITIZENS AND BUSINESSES
Review all CANADIAN MINISTER OF NATIONAL REVENUE AND CANADA REVENUE AGENCY complaints
CANADIAN MINISTER OF NATIONAL REVENUE AND CANADA REVENUE AGENCY
Posted: 2009-03-04 by Canadian Taxpayers Fight Back
ABUSE OF CANADIAN CITIZENS AND BUSINESSES
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FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF CANADA
Canada
www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=1279189&s… =
Canadian Citizens and Businesses Fight Back Against Widespread Corruption in CRA In A Proposed Class Action Lawsuit Against The Minister of National Revenue
Pervasive discrimination against targeted individuals and businesses calls into question whether Canada is a democracy in name only and not in fact, for some and not for all. The Minister of Revenue orders garnishments at the highest rate, in order that the income of taxpayers is seized as quickly as possible with blatant disregard for the resulting human suffering and destroyed businesses. The CRA garnishes income from any source including family benefits, disability allowances, pensions, business income, investments. The injustice is obvious when the Canadian Minister of National Revenue and the CRA are routinely and arbitrarily targeting individual citizens and businesses in all regions of Canada, allegedly violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canadian Bill of Rights, the Statute of Limitations, Contract Law and the Income Tax Act itself including the Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
The Minister of National Revenue ruthlessly seizes Canadian Citizens and businesses bank accounts and issues liens on personal, business property, and insurance policies. These liens are based on improper certificates â RTP- Requirements To Pay instead of proper Court Orders or Judgments of the Court. The democratic rights and freedoms of targeted Canadian Citizens and businesses are effectively canceled since they are denied due process of the law.
Unrelenting intimidation tactics of the Canadian Revenue Agency cause financial hardship, damage to human dignity and psychological suffering to the members of the Proposed Class Action. The intentional arrogance and misconduct of the tax agents in the process of carrying out their duties is unethical and unconscionable. The CRA and their representatives act as if they are not accountable to the law.
The grounds for the proposed Class Action against the Canadian Minister of National Revenue include fraud, discrimination, harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process, breach of trust, breach of privacy, negligence, breech of confidential relationship, invasion of privacy, arbitrary targeting of taxpayers and abuse of power.
The Minister of National Revenue and the Canada Revenue Agency allegedly bully, harass, intimidate, and illegally demand financial information from Canadian taxpayers.The CRA issues illegal garnishment orders based on Statutes without proper Court Orders or registered letters.
The CRA takes power over the individual taxpayers life and finances. The Minister of National Revenue continues to ignore the human consequences of the unjust actions of his agency the CRA and removes the individuals power to self govern his life, and live independently in safety, freedom, and protected from unlawful seizure of personal and business assets.
Completely ignoring taxpayers rights as well financial resources, the CRA reassess tax returns, threatens to take legal action if the taxpayer does not comply with the demands for private information, payment of arbitrary fines, interest and alleged taxes demanded.
Routinely, the Minister of National Revenue discriminates against targeted individual taxpayers and businesses and orders the CRA to issue illegal garnishment orders based on Statutes without proper Court Orders or registered letters. These are in fact just an RTP and are improperly, illegibly signed by anonymous CRA officials with no identifying information: lacking printed name, title and no witness. Therefore they are not even a legal document and are invalid.
The Minister of Revenue orders the garnishment at the highest rate, in order that the income of taxpayers is seized as quickly as possible with blatant disregard for the resulting human suffering. The CRA garnishes income from any source including family benefits, disability allowances, pensions, business income, investments.
All taxpayers objections are ignored and swept aside with invalid excuses in a pathetic attempt to terrorize people and hide the gross incompetence of the CRA and its practices of Statute driven extortion.
This ruthless intimidation is intended to pressure the taxpayer to enter into a contract with the Minister of National Revenue to pay the alleged amount demanded.
Demanding the taxpayers financial information ignores Sections 7 and 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and effectively cancels the rights to privacy, silence and protection against self-incrimination. On February 11, 2009, Louise Dickson of the Victoria Times Colonist reported on the Charter of Rights Victory in Court against the CRA by Hal Neumann and his wife Maureen Rivers.
This precedent setting case, âJury awards B.C. man $1.3M for taxmanâs raidâ, resulted in the Supreme Court Jury of B.C. ruling that the CRA invasion and search of a citizens home violated the privacy protection in Section 7 and the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure in Section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Victoria lawyer Steven Kelliher asked the jury to give a message to the CRA â âThe CRA donât rule us. They have an obligation to respect our fundamental rights. They serve us. They donât prey on us.â The verdict of the jury substantiates the following statement: âGestapo tactics of the Revenue Agency Brought to Lightâ.
According to Kim Bolan as reported in the Vancouver Sun on July 21, 2008, â B.C. Hells Angels, associates, wives and girlfriends- got the CRA to withdraw demands for detailed financial information about their earnings and assets, including any â hidden â outside the country because it violated the Income Tax Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Vancouver lawyer David Martin, Brian Airth as well as others linked to Hells Angels wanted a declaration that the CRA was guilty of illegal conduct by targeting the plaintiffs through an initiative known as â Project MOGAL, â or the â Hells Angel Project â HA â . The CRA gave private financial information to third parties, including the police.
The CRA withdrew the letters of requirement in a precedent setting â out-of-court â agreement made on the same date as the Federal Court challenge was to be heard last spring . The result was that the Airth case was withdrawn.
The Canada Revenue Agency is out of control and acting like an agency in a fascist or communist dictatorship removing the democratic rights of Canadian Citizens and businesses in a systematic process of statute driven extortion.
In addition the Provinces are allegedly in collusion with the CRA and cooperate with them in order to register invalid notices of garnishment based on RTP- CRA requirements to pay which do not constitute judgments of the Court and are not a legal instrument.
Wally Oppal, Attorney General of B.C did not respond to the Notice of Claim for the Statement of Claim- File No. S-116959 in New Westminster, B.C, which objects to such a âbogusâ notice of liens against a Canadian citizenâs properties.
This fake notice of lien does not constitute a Court Order or Judgment of the Court. The CRA certificate of alleged taxes owing (RTP) registered by a Court administrator, a registrar, remains only a certificate of evidence which is contrary to the Provincial Land Titles Acts such as the LTSA, the Land Titles Survey Authority of British Columbia. Yet it was improperly used to change the title of a citizenâs property.
By these improper acts and omissions the CRA with the aid of the Provinces deprives Canadian citizens of equal rights under the law and due process of the law.
Canadians are getting angry at CRA
Canadians are getting angry and we are reaching the tipping point.
There is only so much the Canadian Tax Payers will tolerate. We are getting near the tipping point. Just as in the Middle East, governments have toppled as a resultof citizen frustrations and ill treatment, it will happen here too. When you start clawing back Child Tax Credits from Single Mom, you have gone to far.
Taxation in Canada is now abusive and is as per the top Guns. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Revenue, know full well what they are doing to Canadians and they hold the smoking guns.
I get an interesting perspective dealing with what goes on in CRA. There is anger building up in the Canadian population over CRA and our tax system. Taxpayers are having trouble finding help and think they all have unusual situations, which they donât. And there is a big embarrassment factor that keeps them silent. The Internet is the tool that brings the truth on the table, as more and more Canadians blog, tweet and email broadcast, the more Canadians see that you can stand up and make a difference. It will happen here in Canada⌠We can fully expect there will be a groundswell of anger. That anger will spread across this great land like a grass fire.
We are close to the ignition point now⌠civil court cases against CRA in the courts, more cases pending, Bankruptcies from unmanageble tax bills, lives and health being ruined, marriage breakups, .. We are at the point of an explosion of resentment.
From years of fighting CRA and hiring three different former CRA Auditors to work for me, I have developed a well rounded understanding of the inner workings of the mysterious and intimidating CRA.
One of the ex-auditors I hired was from the Special Investigation (SI) branch and having him work for our clients provided an interesting perspective on the things he used to look for when investigating. Like the BMW SUV parked in front of the local nails and beauty shop.
I have seen just about every dirty technique that can be pulled on Canadians. I believe in fiercely defending the rights to fair taxation of Canadians. I do not support tax evasion. I do support not paying one cent more income tax than what is legally required. I do believe in defending Canadians against CRA abuse by CRA staff that does not even read or observe the Canadian Taxpayers Bill of Rights, as published by CRA themselves.
One has to understand that CRA is a revenue regime. Their objective is to collect as much as they can. It only costs the government 10% of money collected to run the regime where there are 2,400 auditors in the Greater Toronto Area, alone. Consider what CRA stands for Canada Revenue Agency. âRevenueâ being the operative word. Ask yourself âwhat goes on with a CRA team leader and his team of auditors?â Is their objective to be fair and reasonable, to look for reasons to prove the tax payer right? Or do they have an attitude that says âlook for reasons the tax payer is wrong, and get as much as from you as you can?â
The CRA costs billions of Canadian Dollars to run. I wonder why, when we already have a flat tax in the form of GST, why we need income tax. Why not just have a higher HST and no income tax? It would take all the complications of accounting away. And it would save Canadians billions of dollars that fund the half-million audits CRA performs, annually. But for now, at least, we carry on with incredible complexity for the sake of complexity. All the while building more and moreresentment in Canadians to what is perceived as an unfair tax regime.
By law, all taxpayers are equal when it comes to taxation. This does not mean that all are subject to the same tax rate, but rather that everyone that owes tax must pay it. Tax evasion and the underground economy have replaced the salt smugglers and pirate-smugglers of yesteryear. These offenses call into question the fairness of direct taxation because the amounts not remitted by tax evaders must be borne by other taxpayers. So to level the playing field more and more Canadians move underground with some or all of their businesses.
In days of yore, if you were a tax evader, you would be scorned by your fellow citizens; today your fellow Canadians would want to know how you were getting way with it.
Canadians are angry about the amount of penalties and interest they are charged on taxes they already cannot afford to pay. They donât understand how it makes sense to charge penalties of up to 100% of the tax owed, when they canât even pay that. It does not seem like a kinder, gentler Canada to those caught in a tax mess and afraid of losing their homes and even going bankrupt.
There are thousands of tax auditors out there auditing the books and records of Canadians. As a result of this activity, there are many thousands of Canadians, stressed out wondering if they will need to go bankrupt over unmanageable tax debt. Receiving one of those brown envelopes from CRA often strikes fear and dread in the minds and hearts of Canadians, they are even afraid of opening the brown envelope containing letter the letter of doom.
The tax system is complicated and gets more and more so every year. The vast majority of Canadians do not know how to keep their books and records the way they must, in order to become audit-proof. It is not part of our educational system to teach personal finance and taxation in a meaningful way.
The greatest fear in the world is âthe fear of the unknown.â Not knowing oneâs rights, what to do or what to expect is a scary situation for Canadians. They donât know where to turn and often are in such bad shape financially that they can not afford help.
Very often Canadians feel shame and embarrassment because they have tax problems and donât realize that many thousands of fellow Canadians are going through the same thing. Canadians are usually afraid to fight the tax department for fear they will be on the Governmentâs target list for the rest of their lives. So they live in silent tax loneliness.
Many Canadians turn to the underground economy to survive financially. We donât advocate such activities but we certainly understand why it happens. With the advent of HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) in Ontario, there is a greater pressure to avoid taxes and go underground. When you consider adding 8% to an already expensive service the total of 13% wipes out even the tax credits for home improvements.
The underground economy in Ontario is so big and so in your face, that small businesses forget that it is illegal. The language of âIf you donât need a receipt, I wonât charge you taxâ is part of our everyday experience.
What this means is that the government has lost the respect and support of average Canadians. Now the movement is to get away with as much as you can. While tax evasion is alluring, it is not the wisest answer.
What we at Tax Audit Solutions recommend is: stay above board in your tax liabilities, learn how to keep perfect business records. All good businesses need to learn how to structure their business affairs and to back up documentation in such a way that they pay a minimal amount of tax. Audit-ready bookkeeping is a far better solution than the underground economy.