The National Post has identified 385 pending tax cases — most using florid and arcane language and claiming bizarre laws that supersede or nullify Canada’s regulations and laws; it prompted the Tax Court to adopt a triage approach to cope with the deluge, grouping cases and directing them to specific judges.
The cases are part of a burgeoning movement that is convincing people they can avoid paying taxes by adopting one of various but similar philosophical stances.
National Post article on detaxers
Moderator: Burnaby49
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Lambkin
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National Post article on detaxers
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/06 ... rd-claims/
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notorial dissent
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Re: National Post article on detaxers
I like "florid and arcane ", is that polite legaleses for nonsense and gibberish?
The fact that you sincerely and wholeheartedly believe that the “Law of Gravity” is unconstitutional and a violation of your sovereign rights, does not absolve you of adherence to it.
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Hilfskreuzer Möwe
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Re: National Post article on detaxers
An interesting news report. I am particularly pleased to see this issue receiving attention from one of Canada's national newspapers. I do not think it is obvious from the web reference but this particular news story made the front page of today's newspaper.
The 385 pending cases figure is striking. I was curious what kind of work load that presented for the court. A little digging online discovered a 2006 management review of the effectiveness of the Tax Court of Canada in handling its case load, along with information on the volume of files at that court (http://www.ncsc.org/~/media/Files/PDF/E ... l0506.ashx). For 'guesstimate' purposes I am going to presume that this 2006 analysis which reports 2003 and 2004 values represents a "pre-detaxer" baseline.
Both 2003 and 2004 saw somewhat over 4000 new files enter the system. Around 62% of those were income tax files, both "informal" and "general" appeal categories (Appendix C and D).
54% of "informal" appeals did not end in a consent notice or withdrawal of the appeal (Appendix F). However, only 18% of the "general" appeal category went to trial (p. 25).
That means in the "pre-detaxer" period, the Tax Court faced, per year, about 860 "informal" appeals that resulted in a hearing before the court, and 190 "general" appeal hearings, approximately 1050 in total.
The Tax Court currently faces an additional 385 "detaxer" appeals. Those that have more than $12,000.00 in dispute must follow the much more procedurally complex "general" pathway. Given the low threshold I think it is safe to say that almost all "detaxer" appeals will follow the "general" rather than "informal" path. Further, it is unlikely that "detaxers" will settle or discontinue their appeal without a full hearing simply due to their belief set and (ahem) less than rational approach to interaction with government actors.
If that is correct, then this explains why the Tax Court is extremely stressed. According to the review, it takes a non-detaxer "general" appeal about 1 1/3 years to clear. Let's adjust the 189 "general" appeals that go to trial by that amount to indicate that during a usual year the Tax Court has about 250 "general" income tax appeals that will ultimately go to trial. Now the detaxer "general" income tax appeals are added on top of that - 385, 254% of the normal court workload. Worse, those additional detaxer cases will require additional case management resources because the taxpayer litigants will be self-represented, and generally inclined to frustrate the normal appeal procedure.
To which I can only say, yikes!
According to the Tax Court of Canada homepage their current judicial roster is 22 (19 full-time, 3 supernumerary). That means each judge is probably facing, on average, 17.5 detaxer "general" appeals.
The judiciary are a specialized and precious resource. Persons who can effectively try and decide tax-related matters are even more rare. We ask much of these judges under 'normal' conditions. Case management and triage procedures can only go so far. I sincerely hope that the developing Canadian jurisprudence will allow this surge to be managed, and that in the meantime resources are being allocated to assist the Tax Court of Canada during this period of stress.
SMS Möwe
The 385 pending cases figure is striking. I was curious what kind of work load that presented for the court. A little digging online discovered a 2006 management review of the effectiveness of the Tax Court of Canada in handling its case load, along with information on the volume of files at that court (http://www.ncsc.org/~/media/Files/PDF/E ... l0506.ashx). For 'guesstimate' purposes I am going to presume that this 2006 analysis which reports 2003 and 2004 values represents a "pre-detaxer" baseline.
Both 2003 and 2004 saw somewhat over 4000 new files enter the system. Around 62% of those were income tax files, both "informal" and "general" appeal categories (Appendix C and D).
54% of "informal" appeals did not end in a consent notice or withdrawal of the appeal (Appendix F). However, only 18% of the "general" appeal category went to trial (p. 25).
That means in the "pre-detaxer" period, the Tax Court faced, per year, about 860 "informal" appeals that resulted in a hearing before the court, and 190 "general" appeal hearings, approximately 1050 in total.
The Tax Court currently faces an additional 385 "detaxer" appeals. Those that have more than $12,000.00 in dispute must follow the much more procedurally complex "general" pathway. Given the low threshold I think it is safe to say that almost all "detaxer" appeals will follow the "general" rather than "informal" path. Further, it is unlikely that "detaxers" will settle or discontinue their appeal without a full hearing simply due to their belief set and (ahem) less than rational approach to interaction with government actors.
If that is correct, then this explains why the Tax Court is extremely stressed. According to the review, it takes a non-detaxer "general" appeal about 1 1/3 years to clear. Let's adjust the 189 "general" appeals that go to trial by that amount to indicate that during a usual year the Tax Court has about 250 "general" income tax appeals that will ultimately go to trial. Now the detaxer "general" income tax appeals are added on top of that - 385, 254% of the normal court workload. Worse, those additional detaxer cases will require additional case management resources because the taxpayer litigants will be self-represented, and generally inclined to frustrate the normal appeal procedure.
To which I can only say, yikes!
According to the Tax Court of Canada homepage their current judicial roster is 22 (19 full-time, 3 supernumerary). That means each judge is probably facing, on average, 17.5 detaxer "general" appeals.
The judiciary are a specialized and precious resource. Persons who can effectively try and decide tax-related matters are even more rare. We ask much of these judges under 'normal' conditions. Case management and triage procedures can only go so far. I sincerely hope that the developing Canadian jurisprudence will allow this surge to be managed, and that in the meantime resources are being allocated to assist the Tax Court of Canada during this period of stress.
SMS Möwe
That’s you and your crew, Mr. Hilfskreuzer. You’re just like a vampire, you must feel quite good about while the blood is dripping down from your lips onto the page or the typing, uhm keyboard there... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNMoUnUiDqg at 11:25]