Canada Revenue Agency research showed immigrants often complain Canadians pay too much in taxes.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Chinese, Filipinos, Indians, Nigerians and Syrians who researchers from the Agency interviewed mentioned that “taxes in Canada are expensive.”“Canadians pay a lot of taxes,” researchers quoted one immigrant. “It’s scary,” said another. “They add up,” said a third.“There is a perception taxes in Canada are expensive,” said an Agency report Qualitative Research on First Time Tax Filing with Newcomers to Canada. “Not only does tax on top of the price of goods and services add up quickly and make life in Canada expensive, there is also a perceived substantial difference between net and gross pay.”According to an OECD report Taxing Wages 2023, Canadians keep 74 cents out of every dollar they earn after paying taxes on average. These figures do not account for taxes such as property taxes or the GST.“Newcomers often mentioned it being an ‘expensive’ part of living in Canada,” wrote researchers. “Especially because newcomers are often earning little or no income in their early years in Canada, they emphasized the need to keep as much of their income as possible.”“Any actual or potential deduction, either in the form of Goods and Services Tax or income taxes, is concerning to them,” said the report. “The other main preconception was that preparing and filing taxes would be extremely complicated.”“Newcomers understood it to be an important part of living in Canada,” wrote researchers. “Taxes being an integral characteristic of living in Canada is something newcomers heard from family or friends who previously immigrated.”The results came from discussions with immigrants in focus groups. The Revenue Agency spent $57,969 on the study done by Environics Research.Immigrants stated they knew Canadians had to pay taxes to support the construction of roads and hospitals.“Newcomers indicated taxes are fundamental to quality of life,” said Newcomers. “The fact roads are drivable and health care is free makes newcomers feel the tax they pay is actually being used to improve everyday life.”Immigrants complained Revenue Agency information is confusing, that rules are “unclear and daunting” and that the government used unfamiliar terminology “such as ‘credit,’ ‘benefit’ and ‘void cheque.’” Wrote researchers “While it is assumed there is a common understanding of these terms, newcomers’ lack of experience with tax filing means this is not necessarily the case.”“Newcomers to Canada share an understanding of the value of taxes for quality of life in Canada and therefore understand and accept their responsibility for filing income taxes here,” wrote researchers. “Their limited previous experience with income taxes in their countries of origin appears to contribute to appreciating the relative transparency of the tax and benefit system in Canada.”
