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A former Millbrook First Nation councillor and candidate for chief has been charged with evading more than $2.2 million in taxes.

Lisa Marshall, operator of the Traditional Trading Post in Cole Harbour, was charged Tuesday under the Excise Tax Act with willfully evading or attempting to evade compliance with the Act, a Canada Revenue Agency news release reported.

The Traditional Trading Post, a tobacco and convenience store on Caldwell Road on the Millbrook band’s Cole Harbour reserve, was open Wednesday afternoon. The CRA investigation determined that Marshall failed to collect or remit Goods and Services Tax and Harmonized Sales Tax on sales of tobacco to non-natives during the period from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2015. The total amount not collected or remitted is $2,284,144.72, according to the CRA release.

The CRA said that serious consequences can result from the failure to remit GST/HST owing to the government. The tax evader is liable not only for payment of the full amount of GST/HST owing, but also to penalties and interest. In addition, if convicted of tax evasion, the court may fine the transgressor up to 200 per cent of the tax evaded and impose a jail term of up to five years.

Tobacco troubles

It is not Marshall’s first run-in with the tax man. The Traditional Trading Post was charged in October 2012 with obtaining tobacco against provisions in the Canada Revenue Act.

The tobacco, 100 cartons of cigarettes and 48 tubs of tobacco, was not purchased from an approved seller. The tobacco was forfeited to the Crown and destroyed.

Marshall was convicted in court in April 2014 and fined $23,672 and suspended from selling tobacco for three weeks, a Municipal Affairs spokeswoman told The Chronicle Herald at the time.

The suspension began Sept. 25, 2014, and a sign outside the Traditional Trading Post read No Tobacco Until Oct. 16.

Those who have been found to have made an omission, a tax mistake or left out details on a tax return may be given a second chance to correct their tax affairs and avoid criminal prosecution, the CRA news release said.

Marshall sat as the only woman on the Millbrook band council from 2016 to this past February. She did not run for council in the 2018 election, but instead took on Chief Bob Gloade for the top job.

Gloade polled 474 votes to Marshall’s 347 in winning a fourth two-year terem.

The Millbrook band owns 19 hectares of land in the Cole Harbour area.