Commission on the Reform of Ontario's Public Services

Chapter 18: Revenue Integrity
The Ministry of Finance’s risk assessment tool would provide a valuable resource for
information sharing among ministries by co-ordinating and consolidating government-wide
audits of companies. The Ministry of Finance is in a better position to recover funds on behalf
of the province more efficiently with its risk assessment tool. Having a risk-based approach to
auditing may reduce the number of times per annum a business is audited or inspected by
the government.
Recommendation 18-20: Improve methods for information gathering and sharing across
government, including making greater use of the Regulatory Modernization Act, in order to
identify emerging and current issues to improve responsiveness in a compliance environment.
Recommendation 18-21: Use the Ministry of Finance’s risk assessment technology to better
focus enterprise-wide audit activity on areas where rates of return are highest for the province.
Recommendation 18-22: Implement measures to better co-ordinate and consolidate
government audits of companies within the Ministry of Finance to recover funds on behalf of
the province.
Recommendation 18-23: Develop risk assessment approaches with other jurisdictions to help
address audit issues that cross provincial and international boundaries.
Ontario could raise more than $50 million per year when fully phased in by implementing
these measures.
Non-Tax Revenue
User Fees
In 2011–12, Ontario ministries plan to collect about $1.8 billion in revenues classified as
user fees. There are over 400 types of user fees charged to individuals and businesses
(e.g., drivers’ licences).
Most user fees are approved at a specific rate to recover all or some of the costs of providing
a related service. There is no formal recurring process for changing fees to keep them up to
date. Over time, the fees do not reflect inflation or the costs of providing the related service.
This is one of the reasons revenues in the status quo do not tend to grow as rapidly as the
(nominal) economy. Since 2003, there have been minimal increases to many of the most
prominent user fees.
417