A national research partnership
Independent research on the tax mix, redistribution, and administrative equity — measuring who pays, and who benefits.
Explore the researchAbout the partnership
Launched in July 2026, the Fair and Accountable Canadian Taxation (FACT) Partnership is a three-year collaboration supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Development Grant. FACT unites scholars, practitioners, and policy intermediaries to reform Canada's tax and transfer systems in ways that strengthen fairness, accountability, and trust in government. Fair taxation is foundational to economic justice and to the legitimacy democratic governance depends on.
Yet Canada's tax system is complex, fragmented, and difficult to access — hindering redistribution and fostering perceptions of unfairness. FACT develops a coordinated, evidence-based framework for assessing how Canada's tax system raises, allocates, and administers public funds, and how reforms can improve both equity and efficiency.
The partnership brings together researchers at the University of Calgary, Carleton University, and the Université de Sherbrooke with two national organizations — Social Capital Partners and the Canadian Tax Observatory. An equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility lens runs across all three research themes, and the partnership trains the next generation of applied public-finance researchers. FACT's research is academic-led and independent; findings are published openly and mobilized in both official languages.
Research themes
Tax fairness cannot be assessed one instrument at a time. FACT examines how revenue is raised, what it returns, and how it is administered — as a single system.
The first integrated, multi-jurisdictional picture of how Canada's cumulative tax burden — federal, provincial, and municipal — is distributed, and where regressivity is embedded in the architecture.
Systematic Canadian application of the Marginal Value of Public Funds framework, estimating the net social return to transfers, credits, and public spending rather than their cost alone.
Who is excluded by how the system runs: barriers to filing, uneven audit and compliance burdens, and reforms — including automatic filing — that widen access to the benefits people are already owed.
Outputs
Peer-reviewed research, plain-language companion pieces, and policy briefs. Outputs are listed here as they are released.
People
Partners
Research design stays academic-led. Mobilization is co-developed — so findings are tested in real policy environments and reach the people who use them.
A philanthropic policy intermediary advancing more inclusive economic systems. SCP co-leads policy dialogues and roundtables, and translates research into workable reform options across government, business, and philanthropy.
socialcapitalpartners.ca ↗An independent non-profit devoted to helping people and policymakers understand the tax system, and part of a global network of tax observatories. The Observatory leads bilingual dissemination, data transparency, and international linkage.
canadiantaxobservatory.ca ↗Academic partners: University of Calgary (host institution) · Carleton University · Université de Sherbrooke
Funding acknowledgement
The Fair and Accountable Canadian Taxation (FACT) Partnership: The Fair Tax Initiative is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Partnership Development Grant 890-2025-0173, 2026–2029). Additional cash and in-kind support is provided by Social Capital Partners, the Canadian Tax Observatory, and Carleton University.
Le partenariat Fair and Accountable Canadian Taxation (FACT) : The Fair Tax Initiative est en partie financé par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada (subvention de développement de partenariat 890-2025-0173, 2026-2029). Un appui financier et en nature additionnel est fourni par Social Capital Partners, l'Observatoire canadien de la fiscalité et l'Université Carleton.
Research published by FACT is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and is not a product of SSHRC. Views expressed are those of the researchers.
Les recherches publiées par FACT sont financées par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada et ne constituent pas un produit du CRSH. Les opinions exprimées sont celles des chercheuses et chercheurs.