From the leading Canadian public finance textbook to cutting-edge work on benefit delivery, automatic filing, and CRA reform — research that engages how tax systems are designed, administered, and made to work for everyone.
The forthcoming seventh Canadian edition, led by Lindsay Tedds and Trevor Tombe, continues the standard-setting pedagogical treatment of Canadian public finance — covering tax incidence, expenditure theory, fiscal federalism, and the economics of government. Updated to reflect the significant shifts in Canadian fiscal policy and intergovernmental finance since the sixth edition.
The authoritative Canadian public finance textbook, used in undergraduate and graduate programs across the country. Covers the core theory and empirical evidence on government expenditures, taxation, and fiscal federalism, with a distinctly Canadian institutional lens — including treatment of provincial tax systems, the GST/HST, CPP, and intergovernmental transfers.
Documents how Canada's Disability Tax Credit — originally a tax-equity measure for higher daily costs — has become the gateway certification for at least 13 federal disability supports, including the new Canada Disability Benefit. Finds that 84 percent of working-age people with disabilities lack DTC certification, with women, those with mental-health and episodic conditions, and the lowest-income filers systematically squeezed out. Sets out four specific reforms to the certification pipeline that would let benefits flow without overhauling the credit itself.
Argues that the personal income tax system now operates as shared state administrative infrastructure: the standardized gateway through which governments at every order verify income and establish eligibility, with more than 100 programs drawing on CRA income verification alone. Documents how fragmented governance leaves no institution accountable for filing gaps, error resolution, or takeup, using the Canada Learning Bond and provincial income assistance as cases. Proposes a tax-filing and benefit access accord built on shared stewardship of filing supports, consent-based two-way data protocols, and integrated service design.
Introduces MVPF-TaxAdmin, a welfare-based framework for evaluating tax administration reforms across fiscal efficiency, distributional equity, and legitimacy. Applied to the Automatic Federal Benefits initiative, it shows that the social return on administrative reform depends on design quality rather than cost: a well-designed rollout pushes the ratio well above one, while a poorly designed one turns it negative even as conventional cost-per-return metrics score the reform as efficient.
Examines what it would actually take to deliver basic income — or any expanded benefit program — through the tax system. Argues that the CRA's administrative architecture, filing incentives, and real-time data gaps create significant barriers that proponents of tax-delivered transfers often underestimate. A foundational piece for anyone serious about benefit delivery reform in Canada.
Assesses the federal government's move toward automatic tax filing for low-income Canadians — welcoming it as a meaningful step toward closing benefit access gaps, while arguing that filing alone is not sufficient. Identifies the structural gaps that automatic filing does not address and sets out what further policy action is needed to ensure eligible Canadians actually receive the benefits they are entitled to.
A commissioned policy report examining how digitalization is transforming — and could further transform — the way Canada administers its tax and benefit system. Assesses the CRA's current digital infrastructure against international comparators, identifies structural governance gaps, and sets out a reform agenda centred on proactive benefit delivery, real-time data use, and administrative modernization.
Examines the case for automatic income tax filing for low-income Canadians — assessing the administrative feasibility, potential benefit access gains, and policy design considerations of moving toward a system where the government files on behalf of eligible individuals.