The case for the transportation industry Class Action on Meal Allowances against Revenue Canada.

For the past thirty-three years, various groups and individuals have attempted to rectify unfair meal allowance claims. Business pays the bills but comes up short when it deals with the federal government on just about every issue. In this case, the problem is road meals and incidentals when one travels to earn their living.

Federal civil servants including the Military and RCMP are entitled to travel allowances and benefits that far exceed that of a taxpayer in the private sector.

Before March 2002, the private sector employee could claim $33.00 per day for road meals and incidentals. Then Revenue Canada would claw back half of these funds. As of October 2004, the private sector entitlement is half of $45.

The Class Action against Revenue Canada (CRA) was launched by the law firm of Johnston, Johnson & Company, of Summerland, BC in March 2002. Lead counsel is Tom Johnston at www.summerlandlawoffice.com

 

The graph below gives a comparison on the difference in the rates received by a federal civil servant and a private sector employee for equal time spent on the road.

February 2007—The transportation industry Class Action on Meal Allowances against Revenue Canada

has been denied by the Supreme Court of Canada.

As you may or may not know Canada's $51 billion a year trucking industry is facing a huge crisis because no one wants to drive truck anymore. The industry needs thousands of drivers almost immediately.

What's the cause of the problem? You guessed it. It's the tax man! The issue is meals. Civil servants get over $75 a day tax free—no receipts needed, whereas the poor trucker can, at most, get $10 or $11 a day, after taxes. Is that fair? Of course not.

Thousands of truckers have been pursuing this issue in the courts for a couple of years now. Their last chance—an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was just filed on August 11, 2006. Further details about the case are available at: www.summerlandlawoffice.com

In our application to the Supreme Court of Canada, these sad facts about truckers are set out.

- they are older than people in other occupations;

- they have many health problems;

- they have less education than people in other occupations;

- they rarely receive raises;

- they work long hours for low pay;

Couple those facts about truckers with these about the industry:

- it's a $51 billion a year industry and growing rapidly;

- cross-border trucking is growing at a faster pace than the considerable growth in the economy;

- 30,000 to 45,000 people need to be attracted each year into the industry (which currently employs more than 500,000 people) to keep up with demand;

- the recruitment into the industry is falling further and further behind—in recent years, only 5,700 to 18,100 people have been hired per year;

- low pay and long hours keep the occupation low on the radar of young people.

The very negative factor of taxation of money used to buy meals costs the average trucker an additional $10,000 or more PER YEAR. This discourages people from getting into trucking and encourages truckers to leave for better-paying jobs.

Truckers are leaving in droves; the industry is teetering on the brink of a huge crisis; and the government will soon be in crisis, too. Remember, "if you got it, a truck likely brought it".

The solution couldn't be more straightforward. One group of citizens (employees of the government) have been given a benefit or entitlement (the meal allowance) while another group of Canadians (truckers who travel for a living) aren't given the same benefit. This differential treatment must stop! If it doesn't, the consequences are clear—our buoyant economy will start faltering as there's not enough truckers to deliver the goods.

The government has a choice. Will they be fair, or will they continue to discriminate and suffer the consequences? Stay tuned.— Tom Johnston, Johnston, Johnson & Company, Lawyers, Box 1530, 9921 Main Street, Summerland, BC, V0H 1Z0 Phone: 1-250-494-0442

Healthcare Boomerang

The BC government is launching a province wide public consultation on health care. The province’s top health officer claims that food plays a large part in the financial burden taxpayers bear for medical costs.

This is something that those in the trucking industry have known for a long time. The amount of $22.50 that a trucker or those that travel for business can claim without receipts for meals and incidentals while on the road is not sufficient to maintain health.

We need to remember that people on the road for extended periods are limited in their options as to what they can eat. The meal allowance of $22.50 is reduced again at the annual tax filing so that the trucker is left with a paltry $10 or $11 a day. Simply using clean bottled water as an example, we should reflect on the fact that a trucker buys it at one bottle at a time, at gas station convenience store rates, not grocery store bulk rates.

Dr. Perry Kendall, BC’s top health officer stated, in a recent article in the Penticton Herald, “…I’m hoping that we’ll not only talk about how we pay for health care or how we deliver health care, but also talk about how we can reduce the demand for health care.”

The travelling for business community, whether it is truckers or salesmen, or bus drivers faces an inordinate financial burden while on the road, trying to maintain their health. According to Kendall, an apple costs as much as a bag of chips or a chocolate bar, but is less filling.

Sedentary work combined with poor food choices due mostly to affordability is a healthcare boomerang loaded with liabilities for all.

The future financial burden to the taxpayer in health care costs plus the grief waiting for the families can be partially attributed to the arbitrary actions of the federal income tax department. It refuses to recognize that the taxpayer that pays their wages deserves the same healthy food benefits they are allowed, which is $75.40 a day for meals and incidentals, without receipts, and income tax free, while on the road.

There are at least a million votes across the country just sitting waiting for a political party to scoop up. It is amazing the Conservatives, with a minority, or the NDP, dying a slow death caught between the Greens and the Liberals have failed to run with this ‘rights of the common citizen’ issue simply because of the potential vote. Is the transportation and business traveller, bus driver industry so far below the radar screen their vote doesn’t matter?  

The Liberals lost their chance when they refused to deal with it when they were in majority position.  All truckers, their family members, in-laws should contact their MPs by email and letter requesting a tax free meal allowance at comparable rates to that of civil servants. Many truckers failed to join this class action because they were scared to death of being targeted by Canada Revenue with unfair tax audits.