A woman who owned a roofing company was awarded $100,000 and had her huge arrears in GST waived because she was, according to her, sexually harassed by sub-contractors. That is outrageous. This was in 'The Globe and Mail' the other day and I was astounded. I had to read the article several times to try and figure out what GST arrears and sexual harassment had to do with each other?!
In the end, I failed. Sadly, it was a female judge -- who should be removed from the bench -- who said that with her trauma, the owner should not have to pay her arrears. Sadly again, the roofer was a person of colour, so racism and prejudice influence her attitudes, in my view. They have to.
The GST and sexual harassment are two separate issues and should never have been combined. I feel sorry for the CRA and the Tax Court who will now be faced with all sorts of nonsequiters and personal issues put forth as reasons they will now pocket GST, instead of remitting it, as the law demands.
When I ran a national program with CRA, I used to have to deal with Members of Parliament who would call complaining that we were intimidating their constituent merchants who owed GST. "You'll be putting them out of business," an MP would bemoan. "So, what you are saying is that these merchants kept money Canadians paid to them in good faith as GST. That is basically theft," I would reply. "Well, if you put it like that," I would hear.
What other way is there to put it? They are stealing money that should have been remitted to the Receiver General. It's the same with this roofer crook.
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We have become fearful sheep.
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