OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to cancel automatic tax filing following today’s Parliamentary Budget Officer report showing it will cost taxpayers $340 to administer each simple tax return.

“The government is taking millions of dollars from taxpayers every year to provide a service that Canadians can already access for free outside government,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “It’s outrageous that taxpayers are paying $340 to file simple returns for each person when there’s already free software and even professional accountants cost less.

“Only the government would take a free service that’s already being offered and turn it into a multi-million-dollar bill.”

The federal government announced it would expand automatic tax filing in Budget 2025.

Today’s Parliamentary Budget Officer report shows that administering automatic tax filing for 50,000 people with “simple tax situations” will end up costing taxpayers $17 million annually.

That means each simple tax filer will cost taxpayers $340. For comparison, professional accounting firms charge as little as $100 to complete simple tax returns. Even more complex personal tax returns that include “investments, rental properties or self-employment income” can cost as little as $300.

In fact, free tax software already exists for simple returns.

“Most of the 5.5 million people targeted by [Carney’s] announcement are already receiving their benefits, often filing their taxes through free industry software,” explains Tax-Filer Empowerment Canada. “This means taxpayers will now subsidize tax-filing for people who already have free options.”

The Canada Revenue Agency is already one of the largest arms of the federal government with 52,499 bureaucrats. The CRA added 13,015 employees since 2016 – a 33 per cent increase.

For comparison, America’s Internal Revenue Service has 95,226 bureaucrats for a much larger population. That means the CRA has one bureaucrat for every 800 Canadians. The IRS has one bureaucrat for every 3,500 Americans.

“Carney should be looking for ways to make the CRA smaller and more efficient, he shouldn’t be piling on more costs to taxpayers,” Terrazzano said. “If Carney wants to make life more affordable and tax season easier, he should cut taxes and simplify the tax code.”

Canada’s Income Tax Act is about 3,800 pages. For context, that’s about the same length as the entire seven-book Harry Potter series.