Errington’s Wilderness Island Wabatongushi Lake * Northern * Canada Mile 206 ~ Algoma Central Railway P.O. Box 22057, 44 Great Northern Road Sault Ste Marie ON P6B6H4 CANADA May-Sept (705) 884-2215, Oct-April (705) 946-2010 Email: [email protected] www.WildernessIsland.com

The Honourable Charles Sousa, Ontario Minister of Finance November 16, 2017 Dear Minister Sousa,

We have been in a dispute with the Road Tax Rebate office of the Ontario Ministry of Finance for approximately a year. The problem we feel is the road tax rebate office forms and processes do not reflect the requirements of the Gasoline Tax Act. The road tax rebate process and forms have been dysfunctional for many years, our latest rebate application experience indicates the process has deteriorated to draconian and communication has been very frustrating.

Following an audit, the road tax rebate office clawed back 30% of our road tax rebate on January 27, 2017. We feel the decision is wrong according to the Gasoline Tax Act. Also, the decision and poor treatment of our appeal may be symptoms of anti-tourism industry prejudice that is common in many Ontario government departments. Communication and treatment has been very poor and the decision implies that we use 30% of the gasoline we ship to our remote tourism business to play. That we do not work hard, long hours to earn the tourism revenues we bring in and the significant taxes we collect.

On March 14, 2017, we emailed Mr. Fred Akindolire, Audit Manager, notification that we would be appealing the audit by his office with the following message:

Dear Mr. Akindolire We have decided we would like to appeal the decision to claw back 30% of the road tax rebate for our business for the time period of May 24, 2012 to August 24, 2014. To prepare our appeal we request the following: • The policy document that supports the road tax rebate entitlement • Since there has been a change in the road tax forms and process from 3 years ago we request the changes in policy that support the changes in forms and processes.

We did not receive a reply so we reiterated our request numerous times until Mr. Akindolire emailed us back on April 26, 2017 saying we would have a response to our request no later than May 5, 2017. That would be almost 2 months after our request, frustrating but we would at least be in the appeal process. Except we did not receive anything from Mr. Akindolire’s office, we waited for months and nothing.

Since we did not receive any communication or policy documents from Mr. Akindolire’s office by October, we assumed that the policy support for their decision did not exist, so on October 25, 2017 we sent a request to Mr. Akindolire to return the road tax rebate claw back. Less than a week after our request to return of the road tax rebate claw back, we finally received some documents from one of Mr. Akindolire’s office. They were not policy documents however, just instructions and background for the dysfunctional rebate forms. Our conclusion was then reinforced that the forms and processes for accessing road tax refunds our business is entitled to, are not supported by policy. We therefore decided to find and read any road tax policy documents we could find without the assistance of Mr. Akindolire’s office. The documents were surprisingly easy to access, I compliment your government on transparency although the dysfunctionality in many Ontario government departments is frustrating. My first find was an Ontario Ministry of Finance Bulletin:

Ontario Ministry of Finance Bulleting gt/2001_1 - Gas Tax Rebate Bulletin: https://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/bulletins/gt/1_2001.html Eligibility Gasoline tax is imposed on all grades of gasoline at the time of purchase. A refund of the tax paid may be claimed by the purchaser when the gasoline is used: • in any equipment or vehicle that is not licensed or required to be licensed under the Highway Traffic Act and operated in Ontario by any business, industry or institution; and • where such equipment or vehicles are not operated principally for the recreation or pleasure of its owner or operator.

Notes: The direction of this bulletin is inclusive of all commercial, non-road uses, not just the uses on the Road Tax Rebate Form. In the entire bulletin, there is no reference to a need to document gasoline going into different types of commercial un- Providing Quality Fishing & Wilderness Vacations For Two Generations Errington’s Wilderness Island Wabatongushi Lake * Northern Ontario * Canada licensed equipment or uses. The bulletin states that refunds are applicable on "any equipment or vehicle that is not licensed or required to be licensed under the Highway Traffic Act and operated in Ontario by any business, industry or institution".

Further research brought us to the Gasoline Tax Act and Regulations:

R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 534: MISCELLANEOUS under Gasoline Tax Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. G.5 3. (2) The Minister may, upon application from a purchaser, refund the tax paid on gasoline used in Ontario if, (a) the gasoline was used exclusively in a business, industry or institution and for business, industrial or institutional purposes that are not excluded by regulation from the application of this subsection;

Note: The Gasoline Tax Act states that all commercial, non-road uses are eligible for rebate, not just the specific uses in the rebate form. The regulation states that refunds are applicable when "the gasoline was used exclusively in a business, industry or institution and for business, industrial or institutional purposes that are not excluded by regulation". This should mean there should be a list of exclusions from rebate on the form instead of a list of inclusions. The only effect of forms that require separate recording of different types of un-licenced uses is to discourage businesses from applying for rebates they are entitled to. This type of oppression strategy is illegal in the corporate world. We assume government is held to an even higher standard than businesses. The other effect is the rebate form is proscriptive in regard to rebate. What if the unlicensed equipment or use is not on the form's list? That does not change the fact that the business is entitled to the rebate by the Gasoline Tax Act and Regulation, the form just becomes a barrier to accessing the rebate.

Regarding perceived recreational use by management and staff of our business.

Our business supports staff training. Tourism is the largest net tax supporter of the Ontario government. To support the Ontario government with tax generation we need our staff to be knowledgeable about our products and services including knowledge and familiarity with fishing as well as locations of wildlife and natural attractions. To be knowledgeable about fishing as well as locations of wildlife and natural attractions requires using boats to participate in these experiences. In some cases, we pay senior staff to take junior staff out to familiarize them with our product and services. In other cases, we supply the boats and fuel and they participate on their off time. Our staff work 40-60 hours per week so off time is minimal and the amount of gasoline used supporting staff product and service knowledge is minimal. The small amount of time, and fuel, we provide our staff to participate in product and service sampling is investment by our business in ensuring that all our staff are able to knowledgeably and enthusiastically support and promote our guests’ enjoyment of their vacations so our guests continue to contribute to Ontario's tax revenue. To insinuate that we use over 2600 litres of gasoline per year to play around is insulting.

Tourism is one of the highest net tax generating industries in Ontario. Traditionally less than 5% of tourism tax revenues and fees is re-invested back into direct tourism industry support. Although some of the over 95% of tourism tax revenues has indirect benefits to tourism, the bulk of tourism taxes subsidizes other government activities including subsidies of roads and other industries.

We request that the $1,234.92 we paid ($1,151.22+$83.70 interest), be returned to us. It is not a substantial sum, especially compared to the 10’s of thousands of other taxes we remit each year, but it is important to a small tourism business and these are funds we really feel we are fully entitled to according to the Gasoline Tax Act and Regulations.

If you have any questions we would be happy to hear from you or your staff to resolve this issue fairly.

Thank You Al & Doris Errington

Cc: The Honourable Eleanor McMahon, Minister of Tourism Culture and Sport The Honourable , Minister of Northern Development and Mines. NOTO – Nature & Outdoor Tourism Ontario

Providing Quality Fishing & Wilderness Vacations For Two Generations