"Who doesn’t file a tax-return? Estimates of non-filing and implications for measuring and addressing poverty."
Friday November 26th, 2021
2pm-3:30pm Virtual Room Link
Dr. Jennifer Robson, Professor of Political Management at Carleton University
Prior to joining Carleton, Jennifer Robson was director of policy for the non-profit SEDI (now Prosper Canada) and worked in the federal public service. Between 1994 and 2000, she worked in several political (exempt staff) roles. Her primary areas of research are at the intersection of household finances, particularly for lower and modest income people, and the design and implementation of public programs including tax policy, financial capability and financial services, income security and household liquid savings.
Abstract: Robson and Schwartz (2020) estimate that 12% of working-age adults did not file a personal income tax return in the 2012 tax year. This was despite the requirement to file to access several federal and provincial income-tested benefits. In 2012, working-age adults who did not file would have missed $1.7 billion across a handful of federal refundable credits alone. Because of the increased reliance on administrative records for measuring household income in Canada, non-filers may present a particular challenge for poverty measurement using either the Market Basket Measure and the Low-income Measure. Furthermore, non-filing presents a challenge for both federal and provincial policy-makers who may be relying on the Notice of Assessment to streamline eligibility processes.