Data from the Canada Revenue Agency shows its recent efforts to combat tax evasion by the super-rich have resulted in zero prosecutions or convictions.

In response to a question tabled in Parliament by NDP MP Matthew Green, the CRA said it referred 44 cases on individuals whose net worth topped $50 million to its criminal investigations program since 2015.

Only two of those cases proceeded to federal prosecutors, with no charges laid afterward.

The lack of prosecutions follows more than 6,770 audits of ultra-wealthy Canadians over the past six years.

It also comes amid a roughly 3,000 per cent increase in spending on the agency鈥檚 high-net-worth compliance program between 2015 and 2019 due to a beefed-up workforce, according to an October report from the parliamentary budget officer.

Green said federal authorities avoid pursuing Canada鈥檚 biggest tax cheats but go after small business owners who don鈥檛 pay their taxes under a 鈥渢wo-tiered system鈥� pocked with 鈥渓oopholes.鈥�

鈥淭he CRA is not pursuing Canada鈥檚 largest and most egregious tax cheats. And yet for a small mom-and-pop shop if you don鈥檛 pay your taxes long enough 鈥� two or three years 鈥� then they will absolutely go in and garnish your wages 鈥� because they know you don鈥檛 have the ability to take it to court,鈥� he said.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a tax code for the ultra-wealthy 鈥� and then there鈥檚 a tax code for the rest of us,鈥� Green said. 鈥淭he rich are taking advantage of the holes in our tax system. And this Liberal government continues to allow them to do so.鈥�

The issue is top of mind for federal lawmakers this week as a parliamentary committee convenes to discuss the CRA鈥檚 attempts to combat tax evasion and avoidance. Diane Lebouthillier, minister of national revenue, is slated to appear before the panel Tuesday afternoon.

A spokesman for the minister鈥檚 office referred questions to the CRA, which did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Denis Meunier, former deputy director of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, known as Fintrac, said the dearth of criminal charges is striking. But authorities often lack resources to carry out pricey, painstaking prosecutions across international borders and can opt instead for hefty non-criminal penalties.

鈥淭hey may have some of the best lawyers fighting, so you may see that more in tax court, rather than convictions,鈥� Meunier said of proceedings against the ultra-wealthy.

鈥淵ou need a search warrant to go kick in 鈥� well we don鈥檛 kick in doors, but you knock on them.鈥�

Often tax evasion boils down to unreported incomes or exaggerated expenses, which can then be deducted from income declared on tax filings.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not atypical to see individuals pay out invoices from foreign consulting companies. You pay a million bucks for a specialized report, and the company is a consulting firm based in a tax haven (where the real, or 鈥榖eneficial,鈥� owner is hidden from view) and basically the company is owned by the same guy in Canada whose business it is,鈥� Meunier said.

It can be extraordinarily tough to trace money through the warren of shell companies and tax havens used by those seeking to stash their loot.

鈥淭hose persons who set up those shell companies and trusts in all those jurisdictions, they hear you coming. They know CRA Is after them,鈥� said Kevin Comeau, author of a 2019 C.D. Howe report on money laundering.

鈥淭hey can just put in a couple more trusts and companies in other jurisdictions to make the trail longer at any time. It鈥檚 a never-ending rabbit hole.鈥�

The Liberal budget in April allotted $2.1 million over two years for the Industry Department to launch a new beneficial ownership registry by 2025.

Comeau, a retired lawyer and member of Transparency International Canada鈥檚 working group on beneficial ownership transparency, said the registry could be a 鈥済ame changer鈥� for tax avoidance.

鈥淓ven if it is legal, they鈥檙e not paying their fair share. So there鈥檚 going to be huge social pressure on those persons to unwind those dealings and actually start bringing their money back to Canada,鈥� he said.

鈥淢any of these people are very highly respected people in the Canadian establishment.鈥�

The absence of criminal prosecutions against high-net-worth residents comes in an era of rising wealth inequality, a disparity laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The top one per cent of Canada鈥檚 families hold about 26 per cent of the wealth 鈥� some $3 trillion 鈥� up from the roughly 14 per cent estimated under previous methodology, according to modelling in a report from parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux in June 2020.

The same report found that families with $29.3 million and more rank among Canada鈥檚 0.1 per cent.

Tax evasion 鈥� a predicate offence, meaning it forms a component of a more serious crime, such as money laundering 鈥� differs categorically from tax avoidance, a legal means of keeping wealth out of tax collectors鈥� hands through clever accounting.

But critics say the vast troves wealth that remain untouchable to government authorities reveal the need to tighten tax rules as well as crack down on cheats.

鈥淚n former times we didn鈥檛 see tax avoidance as a crime,鈥� said Brigitte Unger, professor of economics at Utrecht University and head of the world鈥檚 biggest tax evasion project, run by the European Union.

鈥淏ut now we see the public sector needs money, and this is effectively stealing money from public coffers, and should be treated as such,鈥� she said.

鈥擟hristopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press