Brian, Brian Pants on Fire

So Mulroney appeared before Parliamentary Committee today and revealed that:

1) he took cash payments on 3 separate occasions as an MP and again after;
2) he only paid tax on the money when he learned of Schreiber being charged with tax evasion.

There are, however, some gaping holes in his testimony:

He only filed his non-disclosed 1993 income in 1999. What is surprising is that he claimed the income as earned in 1999 and not legally as 1993 income.
He did:
· not re-file the 1993 tax year with the added income;
· not make a voluntary declaration to the CRA that the income earned was in 1993 and not 1999;
· inappropriately claim expenses incurred in 1993 that generated the non-disclosed income;
· as an Officer of the Court, he sees nothing ethically or legally wrong with filing for the wrong year.

Mulroney refused to produce any documents to substantiate his claims.

If any other Canadian citizen chose to withhold the disclosure of income earned, CRA would be demanding a mountain of documents detailing year(s) of tax returns submitted previously by the tax payer.

Many Canadians are personally disgusted with this sense of entitlement by a former Prime Minister. He benefited from six years of undisclosed income. Ordinary citizens cannot! Now, more than ever, we need a full Royal Commission of Inquiry into this whole sordid affair.