Province cracking down on tax cheats

To view artical click here -->Last Updated: Friday, April 23, 2004 9:16 AM ET CBC News

The Quebec government has passed a new law giving more search and seizure powers to civil servants, saying that tax evasion costs $1.6 billion a year. The new law, called Bill 20, will give some Revenue Ministry employees the power to carry out secret seizures. With a judge's warrant, ministry workers would be allowed to track personal mail if they believe it shows evidence of a tax-related crime.

Revenue Minister Lawrence Bergman says the new powers are needed to catch organized tax evaders "where there is fiscal fraud of a large extent, where there's a network involved."
Bergman said the government is cracking down on all sorts of illegal activities aimed at not paying taxes. He said the government could even claim the value of provincial sales tax from drug dealers when they're caught.

The Quebec government has passed a new law giving more search and seizure powers to civil servants, saying that tax evasion costs $1.6 billion a year. The new law, called Bill 20, will give some Revenue Ministry employees the power to carry out secret seizures. With a judge's warrant, ministry workers would be allowed to track personal mail if they believe it shows evidence of a tax-related crime.

Revenue Minister Lawrence Bergman says the new powers are needed to catch organized tax evaders "where there is fiscal fraud of a large extent, where there's a network involved."
Bergman said the government is cracking down on all sorts of illegal activities aimed at not paying taxes. He said the government could even claim the value of provincial sales tax from drug dealers when they're caught."All goods that are sold in the realm of a commercial activity are taxable," he said.