Drug trafficker fined for not declaring grow-op income
Last Updated: Friday, July 20, 2007 | 11:53 AM MT
CBC News
A convicted drug trafficker has been slapped with a $55,000 fine for tax evasion after failing to declare revenue from two marijuana grow operations in Alberta.
"By and large, every source of income that you are getting is going to end up being taxable," said Canada Revenue Agency spokeswoman Joanne Gorsalitz. "It's important that everyone pay their fair share."
A provincial court judge found Michael Fernand Paradis, 48, guilty of tax evasion Thursday in connection with two large marijuana grow-ops he ran between 1997 and 2001 in Sundre and Water Valley.
He will have to pay a $55,000 fine, on top of the taxes and interest he owes.
The Canada Revenue Agency estimates Paradis's potential yearly income from the grow-ops was $1.2 million or about $274,000 after expenses, so it's asking him to pay back $74,774 in federal taxes, said Gorsalitz.
Paradis has served time behind bars for the grow ops — he was handed a two-year sentence in April of 2004 and a three-year sentence in May of 2004 to run concurrently.
If he doesn't pay the fine within two years, Paradis will go to jail for another three months.
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