Canadian taxpayers are increasingly relying on their tax refund to make ends meet, according to a survey done by EQ Bank, but the Union of Taxation Employees (UTE) says the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) workers are facing too much instability to be able to best deliver the services Canadians need.
While many Canadians filed their taxes on Thursday, the work has only just begun for CRA employees. Marc Brière, the national president of the UTE, said the workload stays high for many workers as they process returns, deal with follow-up questions, respond to taxpayer relief requests, assess appeals and prepare to distribute benefits. As well, businesses are still filing their taxes.
At the start of this month, the CRA announced it would be cutting more than 200 jobs. While these cuts will not be completed for a few months, Brière said the announcement alone has affected employee morale and mental health. He added that these cuts are only the most recent in a series of cuts that have left workers drowning. He highlighted that the CRA had 55,000 full-time equivalent employees at the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year and it is forecasted to go down to 51,000 this year.
“I submit that you won’t be as productive when you have financial insecurity, and you’re worried about putting food on the table or paying your rent or having a job in three months,” Brière said in an interview with rabble.ca.
In addition, it has been two years since the government has implemented a moratorium on term employees being able to convert to permanent status after accumulating three years of experience. This is driving frustration among CRA employees as the agency lets people go, only to rehire them later.
“I call it the yo-yo,” Brière said. “They let some people go, and now they’re trying to bring them back. You don’t have all the people coming back that you let go. All that training and all the money spent and all that experience is not all coming back.”
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The quality of service provided has been impacted because workers are having trouble staying with the CRA as they accumulate experience, Brière said. This comes at a time when Canadians are especially reliant on the CRA’s services. A survey done by EQ Bank showed that 36 per cent of people are relying on their tax refund more this year. At the same time, a survey by H&R Block showed 35 per cent of Canadians say they can’t make their paycheques last until next pay day.
Brière acknowledges that there have been improvements to the staffing levels at the CRA as the agency rehires people. Last Fall, for example, the CRA rehired about 2,500 people as term employees. He added that the increase in staffing helped reestablish the CRA’s reputation.
However, rehiring workers as term employees still does not address the issue of workers being treated as yo-yo’s. The UTE has been advocating for an end to the moratorium on allowing term employees to become permanent because the agency needs to retain the skills and expertise they develop. As well, he said he feels the CRA did not rehire enough people to process the hundreds of thousands of tax payer files.
The motivation behind keeping people as term employees is being justified by highlighting the flurry of tax season and the relative lull during other parts of the year. Brière said there are ways to keep these workers engaged year-round.
