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Confédération
des organismes de personnes handicapées du Québec
(COPHAN)
November 20, 2001
Mr Bill Young
Sub-Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities, of the
Standing Committee on Human resources Development and the Status
of Persons with Disabilities
RE: Round table
on the tax credit for persons with disabilities
Dear Mr Young,
First of all we want
to thank you for having thought of COPHAN for this round table.
Unfortunately we cannot be present today. We are currently deep
in rethinking and discussing the tax system, following two days
of training on it. A general meeting is coming up on December 4,
where our members will be making decisions about taxation issues.
COPHAN is also a member of the CCD and is working hard there too
on taxation issues.
For a very long time now we have been studying the needs and costs
that disabilities entail. The government can provide either direct
free support (in the form of public services, equipment, home care,
prescription drugs, etc.), or partial assistance through the tax
system; it can make use of the public insurance system (in Quebec
the SAAQ for automobile insurance, the CSST for occupational health
and safety insurance, the IVAC for insurance for victims of crime),
or direct its citizens toward private insurers. Where health and
social services are concerned, the trend at both the national and
provincial levels is increasingly toward a privatized market, which
will soon be covered by some agreement like the FTAA (Free Trade
Area of the Americas).
It is difficult to decide
on a position on our tax system without taking all these aspects
into account.
COPHAN has traditionally held one firm position: it has always called
for free and universal services and equipment, and compensation
for costs arising from disabilities.
However, when it comes to the specific issue of a tax credit for
persons with disabilities, the consensus is as follows:
(1) In the very short
term (current period):
- Stop the administrative harassment of constantly demanding reconfirmation
of functional limitations.
- Increase the tax credit.
- Harmonize the federal/provincial criteria to make them more inclusive
and to make them take into account periods of remission or fluctuations
in a person’s condition (e.g., multiple sclerosis, mental
illnesses, head injuries, aphasia, etc.).
(2) In the short term
(the fiscal year covered by the next budget):
- Transform the non-refundable
tax credit into a refundable tax credit.
- Increase the amount of the refundable tax credit.
- Make sure that the refundable tax credit is not cancelled out
by income security, especially for the poorest.
(3) In the medium term:
- Analyse the tax system
as a supplementary means of rectifying inequalities, not of replacing
free and universal public services.
Thank you for your attention
to these points. We will be sending you COPHAN’s official
position after December 4, 2001. We will also try to find out if
some of our members would be free on November 27.
Thank you as well for
your involvement in the cause of persons with functional limitations.
Yours sincerely,
Chloé Serradori
Director General, COPHAN
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