Mr. MANION:

In listening to these

delinquent tax cases one's recollection is naturally thrown back to the old election cry with regard to the Riordon case. We were abused very severely for having allowed one company to forget to pay its taxes right on time. Now there are some thousands of such cases. There is an aspect of these delinquent taxes which, so far as I have noticed, has not been touched on, and I think it is worth impressing on the minister. When a company is in the position of owing $100,000 or $200,000 of taxes, as some of these companies are, that company is sometimes placed at a very material disadvantage in regard to its future business operations. I had an instance brought to my attention very recently. A very large corporation, through business ventures, is to-day in such a depressed condition that, instead of hiring in the neighbourhood of two thousand men, as it did in the very recent past, it is only able to hire three hundred.

Mr. ROBB:

That is not due to the sales tax.

Mr. MANION:

No, but it is a case of delinquent taxes-I am not criticising the government in this case, I am simply illustrating the situation. The Minister of Finance recognized the case instantly.

Mr. ROBB:

Oh, yes.

Mr. MANION:

The fact is it is the business profits tax which the company is in arrears with, but at the same time it brings about exactly the same condition.

Mr. McMASTER:

Does the hon. gentleman feel that the government should use clemency and consideration in such a case? His leader does not seem to think so.

Mr. MANION:

I am not blaming the government. This company probably could have paid its taxes when it made its profits, but at the present time it cannot pay off those arrears, which are in the neighbourhood of $150,000. It is placed in a very difficult position..

Mr. ROBB:

Does my hon. friend blame

this government for not having collected that tax?

Mr. MANION:

No. I say I am not

criticising this government; I am offering this suggestion as a reason why we should- whether under this government or under some future government-avoid* as far as possible, allowing taxes to get in arrears.

Mr. ROBB:

I agree with my hon. friend.

Mr. MANION:

This company is in a

difficult position. To-day it is employing only about 300 men. It is in need of money from the bank to carry on its operations, but the bank refuses to give the company money on the ground that the government's claim comes first. They say, "If you go into bankruptcy the government will claim its money, having a first charge upon your goods, upon your debts, and so on; so we cannot lend you a cent unless you can come to some arrangement with the government." I repeat that I do not think in this case the government is subject to any criticism, but I have it from the officers of the corporation that unless some arrangement can be arrived at it will have to close down. Well, it is too bad that at any time, whether under this or any future government, a corporation should be permitted to get away from paying its taxes at a time when it probably can pay them and then at a later day have those taxes hanging over their heads

Ways and Means-Sales Tax

and preventing the financing of their operations. I mention this case to emphasize the necessity for collecting our taxes as they become due. I hold no brief for this company; it is not even in my own constituency; it is a company which cannot by any stretch of the imagination be regarded as able to pay its taxes, according to its own statement. It seems to me that in a case like that a thorough investigation should be made by some capable person, say a chartered accountant, with a view to arriving art some form of settlement that would permit the company in question to deal with the banks and to carry on operations to the best of its ability.

Mr. McMASTER:

We should wet-nurse

them along, I suppose.

Mr. MANION:

Perhaps we should wetnurse them along. At any rate we should close the thing out in some way, get rid of it-take away from the corporation that debt which is hanging over its head.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

Will the minister give

us his explanation of the fact that some three thousand cases of companies that cannot pay their sales tax are being nursed, at a time when the country is as prosperous as described in the Speech from the Throne?

Mr. ROBB:

The act that my hon. friend

is complaining of, providing for the 6 per cent, came into force on the first of January. The total number of arrears, three months and under, according to' the return brought down, was 707. The others are further back.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

More than three months. That will make the question I put still harder to answer.

Mr. ROBB:

Oh, with regard to the observations of my right hon. friend that we should collect our taxes when due-*

Mr. MEIGHEN:

That is not the question.

Mr. ROBB:

I do not challenge that statement at all. I agree with my right hon. friend and with the hon. member for Fort William and Rainy River (Mr. Manion) that it is always good business to collect your taxes when they are due. I do not dispute that.

Mr. MEIGHEN:

The minister seems to

have missed my point. How does he account for having to chrry along 3,170 cases of arrears of sales tax at a time when the country is as prosperous as described in the Speech from the Throne?