Tens of thousands of Canadians have signed a petition calling on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to extend the tax deadline.
The petition comes amid an ongoing Public Service Alliance of Canada strike impacting hundreds of thousands of workers.
A statement from the change.org petition suggests that the strike has impacted taxpayers’ ability to file their tax returns on time, as access to CRA agents is “very limited.”
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People across Canada have been leaving comments on the petition page with varying concerns about the upcoming April 30 tax deadline.
Eric Saumure started the petition, who is with Zenbooks, an Ontario-based online accounting and bookkeeping website.
“Living in Quebec it’s even more difficult to file taxes for the first timers, especially for immigrant workers, they ask for a lot more requirements. My agent just informed me that Quebec doesn’t accept online applications for foreign workers and I’ll have to file my tax by paper. With only a week left, this is all very stressful. Hopefully, [government] would extend the date this year,” wrote a person commenting from Quebec.
Another signee from Ontario said, “People won’t have the option of asking questions with the strike. More time would help.”
One user called the system “barbaric.”
“Extending the deadline is the least the CRA can do since this oppressive and barbaric income tax system should not exist at all, and should be replaced with a modified sales tax system.”
The petition has a goal of 25,000 signatures; as of Monday afternoon, nearly 24,000 people have signed.
Prior to the petition being created, the CRA stated that it had no plans to extend the tax deadline.
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