Where the Disability Tax Credit breaks down, and how reforms can affect poverty
In April 2026, the Canadian Tax Observatory found that 84 per cent of people with disabilities do not have Disability Tax Credit (DTC) certification. Without it, they cannot apply for the Canada Disability Benefit or the dozen or so other supports the credit unlocks. Broken Links II looks at why the system excludes so many people, and what it would different options could look like.
The first report maps the “access chain,” 10 steps before, during and after an application where people get stuck. It draws on consultations with dozens of civil society organizations and government officials, as well as their data on hundreds of people. The barriers add up: just 17 per cent of people who start the application online ever submit it.
The second report, by Dr. Gillian Petit, models a more direct route. Only 12 per cent of people on provincial disability assistance held DTC certification before the Canada Disability Benefit started flowing. If they were presumed eligible, about 673,000 more people would be certified, and up to 53,000 would be lifted above the poverty line. Poverty among disability assistance recipients would fall from 49 to 42 per cent.
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A snapshot of new disability research
The good news is: the government has recognized that the process was not working properly and wants to do something about it. The bad news, however, is it’s just not enough to resolve the persistent poverty found among people with disabilities.
Extending the Eligibility for the Disability Tax Credit to Fight Poverty
The DTC was originally designed as a tax credit. It recognizes that persons with severe and prolonged impairments bear non-discretionary costs that reduce their taxable capacity, and its strict functional test was calibrated to identify that population, not the broader population of people who are disabled in some meaningful sense.
The Disability Tax Credit: where the access chain falls apart
This report summarizes the data and evidence collected as of July 2026, on the Disability Tax Credit with a focus on the administrative burdens for applicants.
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