Canada’s disability tax credit program needs major overhaul, Senate committee urges

A Senate committee tasked with studying the disability tax credit and a disabilities savings plan says the two programs need to be overhauled and is urging the government to do more to help people living with a disability.

Sen. Art Eggleton says less than 40 per cent of people living with disabilities can access the two programs, partly because of the strict eligibility criteria.

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The committee says the criteria are unfair because they focus on people with physical disabilities, leaving behind people with neurodevelopmental disorders or mental disabilities.

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Sen. Judith Seidman says the deck is also stacked against people with episodic conditions like multiple sclerosis.

The disability tax credit is intended to help people living with disabilities by reducing their income tax.

The registered disability savings plan helps the disabled or their caregivers save for the future by putting money into a fund that grows tax-free until the beneficiary makes a withdrawal.