During the Speech from the Throne in February 1996, the government announced its intention to create a super agency to collect taxes.

Imagine one national agency, one set of forms, one point of contact and most importantly, one and only one tax payment. Streamlining and reducing overlap and duplication could save millions of dollars. Indeed, Revenue Canada funded a study by the Public Policy Forum (PPF) that estimates potential administrative savings could tally upwards of $160 million.

Furthermore this idea of a "unified taxman" appeals to business people. By consolidating federal and provincial tax administrations, compliance costs would be drastically reduced leaving more money for businesses to put to productive purposes. The PPF estimated that these savings could be as high as $285 million.

Originally, this agency was supposed to be in operation by January 1998. But its birthday has been pushed back as new legislation has yet to be introduced in the current session of Parliament, although rumours abound that something may be in the works for April. But we must look past taxpayer financed studies and ask more fundamental questions.

Canadians should ask why the government has been so quiet on this issue. Unless they visit the RevCan website or subscribe to Minister Dhaliwal's speeches, they're probably unaware of this proposal. Meanwhile, scores of public servants are busily beavering away on this new agency concept.

Moreover, Canadians should be concerned about the devolution of coercive state powers from a department -- accountable to Parliament -- to an agency, which would only have to report to a parliamentary committee.

Revenue Canada has extraordinary powers including the right to seize assets and property, freeze bank, accounts, garnish wages, and initiate burdensome investigations. Such "police powers" should be closely monitored by our democratically elected officials and not handed blindly to an arm's length agency with an appointed board of directors as is currently envisioned.

As we dig deeper, other danger signs appear. Revenue Canada's 40,000 employees have been guaranteed job security for two years after the super agency comes into effect. When federal and provincial agencies are finally consolidated and streamlined, job losses and attrition are inevitable.

However, with this guarantee of job security, we can only assume that there must be some plan to redeploy redundant personnel. And sources tell us that "surplus" staff resources will be allocated to growth activity areas, namely, audit and compliance. So you can quickly kiss away any cost savings from labour reductions.

There is also talk of incentive schemes and bonus pay for the new agency. While pay-for-productivity and the establishment of performance benchmarks are long overdue across the pubic service, great caution must be exercised when it comes to wringing taxes from Canadians. In the U.S., the IRS is under intense scrutiny for its "Orwellian" tax collection techniques and increasingly, CTF offices are being contacted with similar stories.

We must remain suspect when quasi-judicial powers are delegated to arm's length agencies. Recent abuses, although limited, at CSIS, the Parole Board and Corrections Canada are instructive in this regard.

We need to simplify our tax system before simplifying the number of tax collectors. The super agency concept only entrenches and institutionalizes a massive tax bureaucracy. The old adage is appropriate: if it's looks and sounds too good to be true, it probably is!