Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Dolynny on March 4, 2014, regarding tobacco tax collection and reporting.
Statistics Canada conducts the Canadian Community Health Survey on an annual basis in the Northwest Territories. This survey collects self-reported cigarette consumption and is publically available from a variety of sources, including the Statistics Canada website.
In the Department of Finance, the tax administration section collects tobacco product data as part of the tax collection process. Wholesalers of tobacco products sold to retailers in the NWT report their sales and remit the taxes on these sales monthly to tax administration. This data is released annually to the public in the public accounts as the tobacco tax revenue for the year.
The tax audit and investigations section has standing procedures to perform compliance audits on tobacco wholesalers and retailers. Retailers are also inspected on a regular basis. All complaints of non-compliance with tobacco tax legislation and possible non-compliance issues are fully investigated. The section keeps detailed statistics on its activities, which are not publically available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
