(Québec) Éric Duhaime does not intend to make his tax documents public. Experts have questioned his explanation about his overdue property tax bill. The leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec said on Friday that his tenant was responsible for paying this bill and that he had finally paid it.
Posted at 7:11 p.m.
“I have already answered your questions,” he replied on Sunday when The Press asked him if he was going to show his notice of assessment.
The tax expert André Lareau, associate professor at the Faculty of Law of Laval University, had invited him the day before to make public all his tax documents, including the financial statements of his building, his income tax return and his notice of assessment for “be transparent all along the line” and demonstrate “that it was done legally”.
It is unusual for a landlord to transfer the payment of his property taxes to his tenant except in the case of a commercial lease. It is tax evasion if a landlord has his tenant pay his municipal taxes while deducting the amount of the invoice on his own tax return.
Éric Duhaime did not want to specify whether the lease between him and his tenant is of a commercial nature or not.
“The case is closed,” he said. Nothing was illegal. There are agreements of a private nature that will remain private. »
the Montreal Journal reported on Friday that the City of Quebec was claiming a total of more than $14,000 in unpaid taxes and threatening to seize his two properties. The first bill was just over $12,000 and the second totaled around $1850.