The Knowledge Deficit about Taxes: Who It Affects and What to Do About It /

Weak understanding of taxes has also been shown to lower the level of trust of citizens in the tax system. [...] Drawing from the research on financial literacy, we aim to develop a method to measure “tax literacy.” We evaluate, with the use of a survey administered by the polling firm Crop to Quebec citizens, the knowledge and skills of citizens concerning fiscal matters, understood broadly to include direct and indirect taxation as well as social transfers. [...] Tax literacy, and the methods for its measurement, are a new tool to assess the failures of certain policies such as the Children Fitness Tax Credit or the Canada Learning Bond to reach their target audiences. [...] As with all Institute publications, the views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Institute’s members or Board of Directors. [...] One THE IMPORTANCE OF TA X issue it highlighted was that a lack of knowledge LITER ACY FOR PUBLIC POLICY or skills affected both the use of financial products and the use of government programs.