From our perspective, automatic tax filing and automatic benefit registrations are low-barrier ways to reduce poverty for low-income individuals, seniors and families. Putting the onus on individuals who may be dealing with a whole lot of other things in their lives to find a clinic, pay for services, gather all of their papers and things like that, when CRA has most of their information anyway, doesn't make a lot of sense.
For us, an automatic tax filing program and automatic benefit registration would go a long way to keeping people updated and getting their benefits annually. We do think that it should go hand in hand with a parallel income benefit cash distribution system that works in partnership with charities for those who don't file taxes, who may not ever engage or who are not comfortable engaging right now with the federal government around taxes. There are different reasons why people do that. Oftentimes it's mental health, houselessness, fleeing violence or not having the right kind of documentation.
Charities are already fundraising and giving money to those folks. We want the federal government to invest and formalize those programs in partnership with those charities that are connected to communities. While we're expanding the personal income tax system through automatic tax filing and benefit registration, we're developing a parallel process that reaches those who are even further away from getting into the system, so they also get access to the benefits they're entitled to.