The Canada Revenue Agency will soon be able to automatically file your taxes, and eligible Canadians can receive over two thousand Canadian dollars in benefits without having to do anything.
Many people find filing taxes troublesome, especially those with little income, who feel that it’s pointless to file. However, the Parliamentary Budget Office of Canada has just calculated that those who do not file taxes regularly are losing an average of $2,212 CAD per year.
Congressional Budget Officer Annette Ryan released a report on June 18 about the federal government’s automatic tax filing program. Why can’t I receive money if I don’t file taxes? Many benefits in Canada are tied to tax returns. The government uses your tax records to determine your eligibility for benefits; if you don’t file, it’s as if you don’t exist. New benefits include the newly established Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, which replaced the original GST/HST refund; and the Canada Child Benefit and the Canada Disability Benefit. Low-income families are the most eligible to receive benefits, but they are also the most likely to miss out because they don’t file taxes.
The report also clarifies where the money will come from and how much will be spent. Over the next five years, welfare payments alone will amount to CAD 342 million, with management costs an additional CAD 87 million. Together, the two projects bring the total expenditure for the five-year plan to 429 million yuan, with administrative costs alone reaching 22 million yuan this year. The Office of the Budget estimates that only 3,000 people will use automatic tax filing in the first year, but this number will increase to 50,000 by the 2027 tax year. But this figure doesn’t match what Prime Minister Mark Carney initially said.
Last October, Carney announced plans for automatic tax filing for low-income individuals. The Prime Minister’s Office stated at the time that the automatic filing system would be implemented starting in 2027, initially covering approximately one million people, with the number of beneficiaries expected to reach 5.5 million by the 2028 tax year.
The difference between 1 million and 3,000 is not small. In response, some people have begun to worry that if the government holds all the income data of the entire population, is it not far from the day when “everyone gets a paycheck” will become a reality? It needs to be clarified here that automatic tax filing and Universal Basic Income are completely different things.
Automatic tax filing simply helps the elderly, disabled, and low-income individuals receive the benefits they are entitled to; the government does not issue any new benefits, and the costs are relatively controllable. The basic income for all citizens is completely different.
Regardless of whether you work or not, or how much you earn, the government regularly gives money directly to everyone, with expenditures often reaching tens or hundreds of billions. That said, automated tax filing is indeed quietly building an underlying system. If there ever comes a day when everyone gets a free handout, this system will come in handy.