Research

Rigorous analysis of how Canada taxes and supports its people

Our research spans tax policy design, income security, municipal finance, and the distributional impacts of fiscal policy — studied not in isolation, but as the interconnected system they actually are.

Our Approach

Transdisciplinary research built to last

Our research harnesses the strengths of economics, law, public administration, and intersectionality to study public policy problems that resist single-discipline answers. We work across federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal levels — and partner with non-governmental organizations and the people directly impacted by the policies we study — because that is how policy actually operates, and because the interactions between levels of government and the communities they serve are where many of the most consequential gaps and inequities are found.

We publish in peer-reviewed academic journals, produce technical reports for governments and expert panels, and write accessible policy analysis for practitioners and the public. Our research is held to academic standards regardless of the outlet, and we do not adjust findings to fit a funder's preferred conclusion.

We organize our work around two interconnected research streams — FACT and ENABLE — that together form the analytical core of the INCLUSIECON initiative.

FACT
Fair and Accountable Canadian Taxation
How governments raise resources fairly, efficiently, and transparently. Examines tax design and implementation at all levels of government — personal income tax, property tax, user levies, and the distributional effects of the tax mix.
Property Tax Equity Municipal Finance Tax Design MVPF Underground Economy Fiscal Federalism
ENABLE
Equity in Needs-Based Assistance for Better Lives and Engagement
How governments redistribute resources to reduce poverty and promote economic inclusion. Examines income support design and delivery, benefit adequacy, disability policy, program interactions, and the lived experience of the people policies are meant to serve.
Cash Transfer Design Basic Income Disability Policy Material Deprivation System Mapping GBA+
Selected Work

Publications, reports & commentary

WTP 1 + FE = MVPF WELFARE
FACT + ENABLE Flagship Project 2025–
Marginal Value of Public Funds
Lindsay M. Tedds, Gillian Petit and Selvia Arshad
In partnership with Maytree
A new evaluative framework for Canadian public finance — one that measures what government spending is actually worth to people, not just what it costs. Applying the Marginal Value of Public Funds across tax administration reform, social spending, and transfer design to build a benefit-inclusive toolkit for evidence-based policy.
1 Forthcoming Journal Article1 Research Brief1 Commentary
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VULNERABLE NON-VULN. Suits
FACT Flagship Project 2024–
Property Tax Equity Research
Lindsay M. Tedds and Gillian Petit
Funded by SSHRC · City of Calgary · Alberta Real Estate Foundation
Are Calgary's property assessments systematically biased against vulnerable communities? Are property taxes in Alberta regressive — and if so, for whom? Two streams of empirical research using city-level assessment data and CHSP administrative records to document what Canada's property tax system is actually doing to its most vulnerable homeowners.
Active · Outputs Forthcoming
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GENDER INCOME RACE GBA+ INTERSECTIONALITY
FACT ENABLE Flagship Project 2020–
Intersectionality & GBA+
Lindsay M. Tedds, Gillian Petit, Anna Cameron and others
Standard policy analysis treats the "average" person as the default. This research program insists that is not good enough — applying intersectional and gender-based frameworks to COVID-19 recovery design, basic income, and federal evaluation tools to ensure that who bears the costs and who receives the benefits is never an afterthought.
3 Journal Articles1 Book Chapter2 RSC Reports5 Policy Reports
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ALBERTA BC NUNAVUT 190+ Programs Mapped
ENABLE Flagship Project 2019–
Mapping the System of Income & Social Supports
Lindsay M. Tedds and Gillian Petit, with Cameron, Crisan & others
BC · Nunavut · Alberta · SSHRC · Vibrant Communities Calgary
Before you can reform a system, you have to understand it. This program maps the full architecture of income and social support programs across BC, Nunavut, and Alberta — documenting eligibility rules, benefit levels, interaction effects, and the barriers people face navigating over 190 programs across three jurisdictions.
BC System Overview (190+ Programs)Nunavut System Overview (105 Programs)Alberta Mapping Active (TBA)
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POLICY RULES SPSD/M MICROSIM
FACT Research Area 2019–
Microsimulation & Distributional Analysis
Lindsay M. Tedds, Gillian Petit and others
Using Statistics Canada's SPSD/M and related tools to simulate the household-level impacts of tax and transfer policy reforms — costing benefit programs, analysing distributional effects, and revealing who gains and who loses when policy changes.
2 Journal Articles1 Working Paper2 Policy Briefs2 Reports
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T1 RETURN UNDERGROUND CRA PUBLIC FINANCE
FACT Research Area 1998–Present
Public Finance & Tax Administration
Lindsay M. Tedds, Gillian Petit, Trevor Tombe and others
Research spanning the leading Canadian public finance textbook and cutting-edge work on tax administration reform — including CRA modernization, automatic filing, and the governance of Canada's tax-based benefit system.
2 Textbooks2 Journal Articles3 Reports & Commentary
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Structure Components Evaluation
ENABLE Journal Article 2026
Income and Social Supports: An Inclusive Systems-Based Framework for Cash Transfer Design
Lindsay M. Tedds and Gillian Petit
Canadian Public Administration · doi:10.1111/capa.70050
A new framework for inclusive cash transfer design integrating policy design, empirical economics, and systems thinking — moving beyond technocratic optimization to centre intersectionality, lived experience, and the structural conditions that make programs work or fail for the people they are meant to serve.
Read Article ↗ 📋 Brief 📊 Poster 🎥 Video
$150/mo → CANADA GROCERIES & ESSENTIALS BENEFIT Announced 2026
ENABLE IRPP Study · Peer-Reviewed 2024–2026
Improving Access to Food and Essential Needs: Options for a More Generous Cash-Transfer Benefit
Gillian Petit · with Yassin & Abraham (related commentary)
IRPP Study No. 93 · Institute for Research on Public Policy · April 2024
Using SPSD/M microsimulation, this peer-reviewed study evaluates reforms to the GST/HST credit, Canada Child Benefit, and Canada Workers Benefit against criteria of reach, adequacy, access, and cost — recommending a $100–$150/month GST credit expansion for working-age adults with monthly distribution and automatic tax filing. The research directly informed the federal government's Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, announced in early 2026.
Read Study ↗ Tariffs & Income Support ↗ Inequality Commentary ↗
WORKING WELFARE SENIOR 42% WORKING POOR
ENABLE Maytree Report 2025
Poverty Segmentation: The Challenge of the 'Working Poor'
Gillian Petit
Maytree · December 2025
The working poor are not a marginal group — they are the single largest segment of people in poverty in Canada, comprising 42% of all poor families. This report proposes an updated, internationally consistent definition of working poor (500+ annual family hours of paid work, below MBM), applies it to Canadian data 2015–2022, and draws out implications for income support and employment policy design.
Read Report ↗ 📋 Exec Summary
SOCIAL INVESTMENT
ENABLE Journal Article 2024
A Critical Analysis of Canada's Federal Basic Personal Amount and Personal Tax Credits
Gillian Petit, Lindsay M. Tedds and Selvia Arshad
Canadian Tax Journal · Vol. 72, No. 4 · doi:10.32721/ctj.2024.72.4.pf.petit
Canada's Basic Personal Amount and Spousal Credit are sold as universal relief for the cost of living — but 90% of BPA benefits flow to the top 77% of filers, $10.7 billion goes unused by the lowest earners, and men capture 65% of all Spousal Credit value. This paper documents the distributional failures of Canada's largest personal tax expenditures and charts a path to reform.
Read Article ↗ 📋 Brief 📊 Poster 🎥 Video
CDB CANADA DISABILITY BENEFIT
ENABLE Journal Article 2024
The Canada Disability Benefit: Battling Ableism in Design and Implementation
Jennifer Robson and Lindsay M. Tedds
Osgoode Hall Law Journal · Vol. 61, No. 2, pp. 577–608 · doi:10.60082/2817-5069.4014
Written shortly after the framework legislation for the Canada Disability Benefit was introduced, this article examines the key benefit design elements and options facing policymakers — contrasting them against the directional parameters set in the legislation and situating the CDB amongst existing federal and provincial programs for persons with disabilities. Documents the design choices that could have been made differently and provides a foundation for critiquing the regulations released in summer 2024.
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STR · PLATFORM · REGULATION
FACT Commissioned Project 2023–2024
Short-Term Rental Market in Calgary
Lindsay M. Tedds, Gillian Petit, Anna Cameron, and Alexa Atherly
Commissioned by the City of Calgary — Council Innovation Fund · Foundational research funded by Alberta Real Estate Foundation
A multi-year commissioned study building the evidence base for STR regulation in Calgary — documenting the scale and structure of Calgary's STR market, examining the causal evidence on housing market impacts, critically assessing the Canadian literature, and translating findings into flexible regulatory framework recommendations for the City of Calgary.
2 Journal Articles1 Scoping Report1 Final Report1 Portrait Study
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BASIC INCOME
ENABLE Flagship Project 2017–2024
Basic Income & A More Just Society
Lindsay M. Tedds and Gillian Petit, with Green, Kesselman, Cameron, Perrin & others
BC Expert Panel · Government of Nunavut · IRPP · Canadian Public Policy
A decade of foundational work examining whether basic income is the right tool for reforming Canada's social safety net — from the BC Basic Income Expert Panel and a landmark IRPP book to microsimulations for Nunavut.
1 Book4 Journal Articles23 Reports & Papers5 Policy & Media
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USER FEE INVOICE $ MUNICIPAL
FACT Research Area 2014–2020
Design & Implementation of User Fees
Lindsay M. Tedds, Catherine Althaus, Lisa Phillips, Enid Slack and others
A sustained research program on the design and implementation of user fees by Canadian municipalities — covering legal constraints, equity considerations, western Canadian practice, and the fiscal architecture of the Canadian city.
2 Books2 Book Chapters1 Journal Article1 Task Force Report
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