Don’t target the sick

At this point the last thing the Trudeau government needs is another tax bungle. It’s had more than enough of those in recent weeks.

Which is why the government and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) need to get their story straight on disturbing claims that many people living with Type 1 diabetes are being denied a federal tax credit worth an average of $1,500 a year.

The situation is unclear. But whether it’s the result of a misunderstanding or deliberate policy, it’s profoundly unfair to deprive people with an incurable disease of this kind of benefit, without even a proper explanation.

Diabetes Canada says it used to be fairly easy for the estimated 100,000 Canadians with Type 1 diabetes to be approved for a tax credit that helps them pay for medical expenses that can easily run from $5,000 to $15,000 a year.

But since May, says the organization, it has become “very difficult” for people with the inherited disease to qualify. It says 80 per cent of adults who used to be approved are now being turned down.

Worse, the organization says the CRA and Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier ignored their repeated pleas for information on why sufferers are being rejected until Conservative Pierre Poilievre raised the issue in Parliament on Friday.

Losing the tax credit affects the ability of sufferers “to access the medications and the medical supplies they really desperately need to manage their disease,” says Kimberley Hanson of Diabetes Canada. Adds Madison Ferguson, a constituent of Poilievre’s, “It’s not like I can snap a finger and this disease turns off.”

It’s the second time this month that the CRA has appeared to be targeting lower-paid or vulnerable people even as the government has failed to close loopholes used and abused by the ultra-rich.

Two weeks ago the tax agency had waiters and retail workers in its sights. It announced it would treat employee discounts on meals or merchandise as a taxable benefit, penalizing workers who are already on the low end of the pay scale.

Cue the outrage. It took barely a nanosecond for the government to slap down the CRA and reverse course on that one.

Now it appears the government is also backing away from the diabetes debacle. On Sunday night the CRA suggested Diabetes Canada’s claim was “worrisome” and denied it had made any policy changes to the tax credit. It is promising to hire more nurses to work in processing centres to evaluate the claims.

That’s what Lebouthillier’s department should have done when the problem was first drawn to its attention last May.

The government is right to examine all tax credits and loopholes. But it can’t arbitrarily make changes without explaining them to those most affected. And it certainly can’t afford to further jeopardize its hesitant moves toward tax reform with yet another misstep. It should make sure that people living with diabetes continue to get help with managing their disease.