The Liberal government will begin rolling out a long-awaited automatic tax filing system for low- income Canadians and make the school food program permanent in advance of a federal budget that the prime minister is promising will lay the groundwork to support the country’s most vulnerable citizens.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the measures at a news conference in his home riding of Nepean, Ont., where he also promised to extend the Canada Strong pass over the holiday season and the summer of 2026.
“In the budget, we will have to make responsible and pragmatic choices, and, yes, difficult decisions,” Carney said Friday.
“We will take pragmatic decisions so we can protect programs and initiatives that support the most vulnerable in our society.… We will build programs that help you get ahead.”
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government first announced an automatic tax filing system in the 2020 throne speech, before formally committing to implement the program in the 2023 budget.
By law, people who owe taxes are required to file a return each year with the CRA, but many low-income Canadians — notably those on government assistance — don’t expect to owe the federal government anything, so they seldom file.
Carney said that Canadians who fail to file a return when they earn under the basic personal amount means Canadians “who most need benefits often don’t get them.”
Those benefits include the GST/HST tax credit, the Canada child benefit, the Canada workers benefit, the Canadian disability benefit and the disability tax credit.
Carney said a single parent with two young children, earning $15,000 from a part-time job could be eligible for up to $25,000 in federal and provincial benefits.
