Tax cheats told they’re cheating everyone
Posted Sep 19, 2012 1:15 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Tax cheats are being told they are not only cheating themselves, they’re cheating everybody.
The senior economist at ATB financial tells 660News governments rely on tax dollars to pay for the services we enjoy – and tax cheats can’t have it both ways.
“They’re still to line up for emergency health care and in schools and driving on the roads so they’re happy to use government services but somehow they feel they shouldn’t have to pay their fair share to fund them,” says Todd Kirsch.
Hirsch says Canada doesn’t have a serious underground economy problem but says it needs to be kept in check.
He points to the ongoing debt problems in Greece, where tax evasion has been a serious problem for decades.
More then half of Canadians responding in a survey conducted by H&R Block say they’d rather pay cash for services to avoid paying service tax to contractors.
660News talked to Calgarians today to see if they’d admit to being technically guilty of tax avoidance.
As it happened, we couldn’t find anyone who hadn’t paid cash under the table for something.
Most felt justified, saying they believe Canadians are over-taxed.
Others, like this woman, see it from another perspective:
“I work in the service industry where people wanted to pay cash so they didn’t have to pay their tax. We still have to pay the tax on all of our products. So, no. I don’t agree with it at all.”
She’s in the minority though, according to the H&R survey.
The poll showed 70 per cent see nothing wrong with sneaking the odd deal past the tax man.
