Dear Senator Mockler
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Standing Committee on National Finance on Tuesday June 14th, as part of your deliberations on the omnibus budget bill, C-19. I hope I clarify any issues that you wished to hear more about below.
Senator Marshall asked if the $20,000 tax limit (the combination of personal tax allowance plus disability tax credit) was sufficient.
While there are 52 official poverty lines in Canada, they tend to fall above and below roughly $2,000 a month for an individual, making a rough annualized amount of $24,000. Being disabled costs more than not being disabled, and while we do not have Canadian statistics on this, comparable countries would put that at roughly 40% more, making a disability poverty line closer to $2,800 a month, or $33,600 annually. The current combination of personal allowance and DTC of roughly $20,000 a year means that disabled Canadians who live close to and just above the poverty line are paying taxes – it seems absurd to be giving this money with one hand and taking it away with the other. Hence, it is our view that $20,000 as a combined tax rate is not sufficient, and should be raised above both Canada’s Official Poverty Line and the disability poverty line.
Senator Richards was keen to hear more about the programs I was describing to assist disabled people access federal programs – programs that are not federally funded.
We are keen to see the establishment of an arms length, non-profit, federally funded program to assist vulnerable Canadians, such as those with disabilities, access the federal benefits that should already be available to them, and any that become subsequently available. The examples that I refer to from BC are funded by the BC Government and the Vancouver Foundation – even though they are to access federal benefit. More information on these programs can be found at these links on the Disability Alliance BC website – for TaxAID https://disabilityalliancebc.org/direct-service/file-income-taxes/ and for AccessRDSP https://disabilityalliancebc.org/direct-service/help-with-the-rdsp-and-dtc/
Senator Forest asked for any recommendations that Disability Without Poverty has regarding C-19 and the DTC.
Our recommendations can be covered in three broad proposals:
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Take steps to ensure that the DTC reaches its intended audience by a federally funded, arms length, non-profit program, similar to the examples given above.
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Make the DTC a refundable tax credit, to ensure that funds reach severely disabled Canadians who live in poverty and pay no taxes.
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Stop the use of the DTC as a gateway to other benefits. It was never its intended purpose and it is not fit for this task.
As I mentioned in my presentation, I am not the first person to make recommendations about the DTC, including the Senate itself. I conclude with attaching links to a number of other reports, from the House and the Senate, and the CRA’s disability advisory committee. They contain many more detailed recommendations than the three broad proposals I have given above. We believe that these reports contain many excellent points, and it is frustrating that they have not been implemented.
Breaking Down Barriers – A Critical Analysis of the DTC and RDSP
Standing Senate Committee on social Affairs, Science and Technology (2018)
Taking Action: Improving the Lives of Canadians Living with Episodic Disabilities
Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (2019)
Second Annual Report of the Disability Advisory Committee
CRA Disability Advisory Committee (2020)
I thank you for your time and the opportunity to highlight the needs of Canada’s disabled people to your committee.