Monday, June 16, 2008
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CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Thank you and good morning.
This is my first opportunity as Minister of Revenue in the McGuinty Government to address the Toronto Board of Trade and it's a pleasure to be with you this morning.
As the Premier has said on many occasions, Ontario is open for business and it's important we do all we can to make things easier for those seeking to do business in Ontario.
We know businesses want choice, less red tape and improved efficiency in the service you get from government. You want accurate information and quick service and it's our goal to model the flexibility and client focus offered by the private sector. We're serious about finding ways of doing business that are simpler and more convenient for everyone.
In keeping with these goals, I'm here today to launch the first of several changes to the way Ontario's Ministry of Revenue does business with its clients.
1-866-ONT-TAXS is the ministry's new toll-free line, and it marks the first step of a larger service improvement initiative known as ONT-TAXS.
As of today, there is now just one number to call –
1-866-ONT-TAXS – for all your Ontario tax enquiries. You no longer have to pick and choose from a confusing list of 39 different numbers.
Through the new interactive telephone system, clients will have “one-window” service delivery and convenient access to information, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
As I've said, 1-866-ONT-TAXS is just one of many service improvements coming from the Ministry of Revenue in the weeks and months ahead. In fact, our client service objectives are driving one of the largest information technology transformation projects in government. We're applying service, security and accountability standards that will better serve our businesses and strengthen a healthy Ontario economy.
With that in mind, I'd also like to:
Talk briefly this morning about the Ministry of Revenue;
Share our vision and strategy for a more modern system of tax administration; and
Describe how private sector advisory groups are helping Ontario chart the course and review work-in-progress.
I'll begin with a few words about the ministry.
The Ministry of Revenue was created in February 2007 and although we are relatively new to government, our core business is rooted in the responsibilities of the former Tax Revenue Division of the Ministry of Finance.
We administer 22 provincial tax statutes. These include Retail Sales Tax, Employer Health Tax and Corporations Tax. And as well, we administer various tax credit and benefit programs alongside a number of inter-jurisdictional agreements.
The Ministry of Revenue maintains an active tax roll of 1.6 million registered clients. Ontario businesses contributed more than $37 billion through various business taxes in 2006-07, a figure that represents more than 60 per cent of the province's tax revenues.
However, the importance of the work we do together in the collection of tax lies in the fact that these taxes support essential services in Ontario.
This same $37 billion in revenue helps offset a number of major provincial expenditures that include annual health-care spending of approximately $37.8 billion. Funding on an annual basis of $18.3 billion to Ontario school boards.
From healthcare and education to our essential network of community and social services, Ontario programs rely on tax revenues to make them possible. These programs define the quality of life we want for our families and our communities.
At the same time, we know businesses need to compete.
Our new agreement with Canada Revenue Agency to administer corporation taxes on behalf of Ontario means that starting in April of this year Ontario corporations started to see compliance cost savings from integrated audits, rulings, objections and appeals for all pre-2009 taxation years.
Ontario businesses will further benefit from a harmonized corporate income tax base and a single harmonized corporate tax return.
This means that by 2009, business will benefit from:
- a single tax form
- a single tax collector, and
- a single set of income tax rules.
This move to a single corporate tax administrator is one of the most significant changes to Ontario's tax administration in more than a generation.
For years the business community has been urging the Governments of Ontario and of Canada to harmonize corporate tax administration as a way to improve productivity and we have listened.
I would like to thank you as members of the Ontario business community for your thoughtful assistance in making this project a reality.
I'd like to move now to our strategy for modernizing Ontario's system of tax administration. We call it ONT-TAXS…Ontario's Tax Services and it underpins the single biggest business relationship in government.
As we all know, knowing what's expected and making every effort to meet those expectations are fundamental to the success of any business relationship.
Timely service tops the list of what businesses want from government.
When almost 6,000 Canadian businesses in every province and territory were asked – by the Institute for Citizen-Centred Service for a study called “Taking Care of Business” – what single thing would most dramatically increase their level of satisfaction with government service, they said: “Make public sector service delivery faster.”
We have heard your request.
Self-service systems save time and money and support faster and more convenient business to government interactions. That's why as part of our ONT-TAXS initiative, we're getting ready to launch online tax services on a 24/7 basis.
The Internet is the norm in service delivery and, not surprisingly, North America leads the world in Internet usage. But how does Ontario fit into that picture? Recent ServiceOntario statistics show that 40 per cent of the Ontario population use the Internet – that's well over five million people – and they're online for an average of 37 hours a month. Canada Revenue Agency reports that close to 65 per cent of tax returns they receive are filed electronically.
The Internet is, in fact, the “great leveler'' because it provides access to information and service to people across every age and from all walks of life. Ontario is one of the most electronically connected places on the continent with Internet access and online services widely available in our homes and communities.
And the fact is, the average citizen doesn't even need to own a computer. Ontario public libraries offer free Internet access and ServiceOntario kiosks are popping up all over the place including shopping malls.
At the Ministry of Revenue, our vision is one where clients will conduct all their business – registration, account enquiry, tax filing, tax payment, change of information and even business wind-down – through online systems.
You will be able to save time by accessing all your Ontario tax accounts online, whenever it's convenient. Paying taxes online will also promote compliance, and small businesses in particular have told us it will help them with cash flow.
We can dramatically reduce the paper burden and have already cut the number of letters and forms used by close to 35 per cent.
We can also ease the perceived need for walk-in services…if that's your preference. It's all about choice and finding the best way to respond to your needs.
The ministry is taking a phased approach in moving to online service for two reasons: security and convenience.
First and foremost, a phased approach is necessary to ensure the highest standards of online security. The new online service will be phased in this summer starting with a small group of Retail Sales Tax volunteers. By the fall of 2008, online service will be available to all of our RST tax clients and we will begin to phase in the service to our Employer Health Tax clients.
And for more convenient service, we're redesigning our own work to support online channels and phasing in new processes on our end.
We take protection of your tax information very seriously. To access our online services you will need to register with the Ontario government's “ONe-Key” service before being able to access ONT-TAXS online. It is a simple one-time process but it verifies your identity and allows you to securely conduct online business with the Government of Ontario.
Security and convenience are also featured in another aspect of our ONT-TAXS initiative – that is the phasing of clients to one Business Number over the coming months.
As many of you will know, Canada Revenue Agency assigns Business Numbers. Ontario is joining the federal government and other provinces in using the federal Business Number – or BN, as it's commonly known – to securely identify a business and its associated tax program accounts.
One business, one identifier. You only need to remember your Business Number for access to information about your federal or Ontario government accounts. This does not mean we will share your information with another ministry or with Canada Revenue Agency unless authorized to do so.
We will be phasing in the Business Number with new and existing Retail Sales Tax clients starting in mid-July. Other statutes, such as Employer Health Tax, will follow later this fall.
We'll be encouraging clients to start referencing their Business Number when they receive it. All existing reference numbers – such as the Vendor Permit Number – will continue to be valid as 1.6 million clients transition to the Business Number.
And finally, some of the network improvements and process enhancements we've planned may be invisible to you. But their outcomes are the same: faster and more convenient service.
We're building a flexible system that will easily adapt to the changing business, legislative and tax administration environments.
I encourage you to get a sneak peek at the online system set-up here today.
Finally I would like to acknowledge our private sector advisory group that is helping Ontario chart the course and review our work-in-progress.
The ONT-TAXS Advisory Group – OTAG as they are known around the ministry – is an independent, industry sector advisory group working with Ministry staff to review and provide feedback on our modernization strategy and other initiatives.
Chaired by Angela Longo, Ontario's Commissioner of Revenue, OTAG provides the government with advice and insight to business realities and how we can best position our new systems to best suit our business community.
Members of this advisory group include senior executives and tax specialists of such large businesses as General Motors Canada, Hewlett-Packard, Bell Canada, Hudson's Bay Company and PetroCanada, among others.
They include executives and owner-operators of small to medium-sized businesses such as Hockley Valley Resort and the Sony Centre for Performing Arts. Some of Ontario's leading tax practitioners are also members, as well as representatives from the municipalities, universities, school boards and the hospital sectors.
Joining us this morning from OTAG is Stephen Chait, Director of Economic Development for the Town of Markham; Allan Gelkopf, a tax practitioner and Partner at Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP; Daniel Karvonen, Bell Canada's Director, Commodity Tax; John MacFarlane, General Manager, Taxation and Records Management, Hudson's Bay Company; Roy Reeves, Director of Finance and Personnel, Sony Centre for the Performing Arts; and Louis Roesch (pronounced Rush), the owner of Roesch Meats Company.
OTAG brings a value-add to the table that will ring true to you as business people and as members of the Toronto Board of Trade.
OTAG members know what it takes to keep the door open and meet tax obligations. They know as a group what's really going on with small businesses, what will save time, energy and money. And OTAG members know what works and makes sense for large corporations. Or what doesn't.
They've given us some practical advice for online training and we've tapped into their user experience to reword online screen commands as people move through the system.
Here's an example: Once you've been through the system a few times and know all the prompts, a bypass option that avoids “taking you back out” of the system will now move you forward, based on your regular option choices. It saves time going over the same steps again and again whenever you visit us online. You'll see what I mean if you drop by our online demo table in a few minutes.
I would also like to acknowledge the ongoing work of the Small Business Tax Administration Advisory Committee. The committee was established in 2004 and its 15 members have offered valuable suggestions and feedback on ways to cut red tape out of our tax administration processes.
And I'm very pleased this morning to welcome from our Small Business Tax Administration Advisory Committee: Lorraine Maclachan, President and CEO, Canadian Franchise Association; Nathan Mean, Manager, Member Services at the Canadian Federation of Business; Jack Millar, specializes in commodity tax at Millar Kreklewetz LLP; and Steven Van Alstine, Vice-President, Compliance Program and Services, Canadian Payroll Association.
On behalf of the McGuinty Government, the Ministry of Revenue and businesses across Ontario, we appreciate and value the time and contribution these advisory groups have made to the ONT-TAXS initiative and more.
In closing this morning I would like to issue a challenge.
We know tax revenues are crucial to sustaining our quality of life and that business needs to compete. But how can government and the business community work together to balance these two realities?
It's my personal goal as Minister of Revenue to keep you – the client – at the centre of everything we do. It's also why I ask if there is more we can accomplish together to help you meet your obligations?
I came here this morning to listen, as well as to share plans with you. I sincerely hope you will take a moment to stop by our information table or to speak with me one-on-one with your comments, ideas or suggestions.
There will be many more opportunities for open dialogue in the months ahead as we roll out ONT-TAXS service improvements across the province.
I look forward to those opportunities and invite you this morning to join the Ministry of Revenue in moving forward together.
Thank you.
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