Hundreds of property owners owe back taxes to government
List of names released in hopes that some will clear their debts
Casey Lessard
Northern News Services
Monday, July 13, 2015
IQALUIT
The list of dignitaries includes Family Services Minister Jeannie Ugyuk, Environment Minister and Community & Government Services Minister Johnny Mike, MLA Alexander Sammurtok, former MLAs James Arreak, Lorne Kusugak, Samuel Nuqingaq, and Fred Schell, and even former Commissioner Edna Elias.
It's a group Martha Hickes, a Rankin Inlet councillor and receptionist at the NTI office, is eager to leave.
"I don't like it," Hickes said, when reached by phone. That's because she and the rest are on a public 'shame list' of people who owe the government more than $10 in property taxes. The list was made public for the first time, on the government's website, at the end of June.
"Oh! How do I take it off? Where do I owe taxes, in Rankin or where? It's news to me," Hickes said.
It's not news to Shear Minerals, the company that owned the Jericho diamond mine until abandoning the site in 2012. The company tops the list, owing $1.561 million, about half of the $3.279 million owed by those on the list.
Up next is Arviat Health Facility at $20,691, and then KP&H, which owes $17,475. Attempts to reach these two debtors led to disconnected phone numbers.
At the very bottom of the public list are Martha Hickes and her husband Robert. They owe $13.91.
"I can pay that today," she told Nunavut News/North, demonstrating the intended goal of the list's publication. "I'm going to pay today."
Higher up at her workplace, NTI vice-president James Eetoolook owes $1,288. There, too, on the list are Pond Inlet Mayor Charlie Inuarak ($519) and former Pangnirtung mayor Sakiasie Sowdlooapik ($7,295), former MP Peter Ittinuar ($649), and former Iglulik deputy mayor and famed film director Zacharias Kunuk ($2,265). Even Finance Minister Keith Peterson's brother is being outed, as Bruce Peterson and his various business interests owe thousands of dollars.
Of the 1,026 properties listed, the owners of 70 properties owe less than $100. Thirty per cent owe less than $500, the threshold for inclusion on a similar list published annually by the City of Iqaluit.
"Technically our legislation says that everybody should be posted on the list," said Government of Nunavut comptroller Jeff Chown. "What we've chosen to do was include everybody on the list with more than $10 in arrears."
Chown said the list includes anyone owing taxes at the end of the fiscal year, and that the list includes those whose arrears are more than six months old.
Interest accrues at a rate of 4.25 per cent. Those in arrears for small amounts may be in their situation due to a cheque arriving later than the interest accrual date, or because they paid the wrong amount.
The collection process includes direct contact, payment plan negotiations, interest, and if warranted, liens, Canada Revenue Agency collections, and in extreme cases, auctioning the property of those in arrears.
About 88 per cent of the territory's 8,300 properties are in good standing with the government, Chown said. Shear Minerals is currently under federal stewardship, but the territorial government plans to keep the debt on the books until it can be determined whether any of that can be recovered.
Current MLAs and cabinet ministers will not get off the hook as easily.
"There aren't any rules that would prevent them from being in arrears," he said, but those who are currently on the payroll will see any outstanding amounts deducted from their final pay.
Other government employees could see their wages garnished by court order, but it's not a path Chown wants to take. Instead, the government has offered payroll deduction programs to help those employees reduce their debt.
