Liberals pour more money into tax filing program for homeless, newcomers

OTTAWA — In just over a week, six volunteers will start filing up to 500 tax returns for people with little to no income at the Shepherds of Good Hope homeless shelter in downtown Ottawa.

The Liberals gave volunteerdriven clinics like this a boost in last week’s budget, bringing annual spending on the “community volunteer income tax program” to $13 million, and allowing them to operate year-round.

Many federal benefits for lowincome people, including the revamped workers’ benefit and the Canada Child Benefit, as well as provincial and municipal benefits, are calculated through income tax returns.

More returns filed means more benefits.

Susan Alcott, who oversees the tax clinic at the Shepherds of Good Hope, said many of the people using her clinic don’t realize they can receive benefits for filing a return.

“One of the misconceptions that our clients have is that they pay taxes. Our clients don’t pay taxes,” she said.

“Our clients can only gain from submitting their returns.”

It is the second time since taking office that the Liberals increased spending for the program, in which more than 2,300 organizations and 17,000 volunteers help homeless, Indigenous peoples, newcomers, seniors and people with disabilities file tax returns.

Underlying the budget decision was a decision a year ago by the Canada Revenue Agency to do research that had little to do with numbers.

Last March and April, the agency researchers conducted in-depth interviews with people at volunteer tax clinics or in shelters to identify behaviour patterns that could help the government improve programs and outreach to lowincome and marginalized populations.

They interviewed 31 men and 11 women, ranging in age from early 20s to mid-70s. Among them, 30 filed a tax return in 2016. Just under half lived in shelters at the time of the study; six had children, with two getting the Canada Child Benefit.

A common thread for all was daily concerns that took priority over administrative tasks like filing taxes, as well as chronic issues such as mental health problems, said Amy Wilson, a graduate student at the CRA’s innovation lab and a lead researcher on the project.

“These people have really complicated lives,” she said.