The Canada Revenue Agency is getting individual income tax questions right just 17% of the time, according to a new report from the Auditor General — a revelation that has the Canadian Taxpayers Federation demanding Ottawa simplify the tax code immediately.“When individual Canadians are asking questions about their taxes, they’re only getting the right answer from the CRA 17% of the time,” said Franco Terrazzano, the CTF’s federal director. “Even when people are asking the CRA about business taxes, it’s a coin flip on whether they will get the right answer, and even then, Canadians aren’t getting a full response.”The Auditor General’s report found that the CRA’s accuracy rate for business tax questions was just 54%, with the completeness of those answers sitting at only 31%..“The fact that the CRA is providing the wrong information so often is proof that nobody understands the impossibly complicated rules and the government needs to simplify the tax code,” Terrazzano said.The report also highlighted serious accessibility problems: Canadians were only able to reach a CRA agent 32% of the time in 2024-25, and only 18% of callers connected within 15 minutes. Despite this, the agency has increased its contact centre staff by more than 1,000 employees since 2019.The Income Tax Act now stretches roughly 3,600 pages — about the same length as all seven Harry Potter books combined. Terrazzano said that level of complexity makes it nearly impossible for either taxpayers or bureaucrats to navigate.“When the pitcher, batter, catcher, umpires and video replay officials all have no idea what the call should be, that means it’s time to fix the rule book,” he said. “The government needs to change the rule book by simplifying the tax code.”