Government attempts at making tax filing easier don’t address the bigger problem

financialpost.com:

While Monday’s 2024 Fall Economic Statement contained very little in the way of tax changes, the government did provide further details on its progress toward automatic tax filing, at least for some Canadians.

After all, for most Canadians (myself excluded), preparing a personal tax return isn’t much fun. Nor does it add much value. In the end, much of the information we enter on our tax returns the government already has. Earned employment income in 2024? The feds already have the details of how much you earned, the taxes that were withheld, and your Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Québec Pension Plan (QPP) contributions and Employment Insurance (EI) premiums from your T4 slip. Maybe you received some dividends on your non-registered bank stock? The government has that information, too, as your brokerage firm issued a T5 slip reporting the amount both to you and directly to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Made a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) contribution? Yes, they have that information, too.

Yet each year we spend either time or money (if we hire someone) to essentially re-input information into our returns that the government already has. Sure, the government has introduced Auto-fill my return, which makes inputting tax information easier, but we still need to complete the rest of the tax return on our own each year, which can be complex and costly for some to do.

In its economic statement, the government noted that nearly 20 per cent of Canadians with an income below $20,000 do not file a tax return. As a result, they are not receiving many significant federal benefits they are eligible for, such as the Canada child benefit and the GST credit.

The CRA is therefore working to make tax filing easier for many