Archive for the ‘Social Security’ Category
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »
How expanding tax credits would help to lower our country’s welfare wall
Wednesday, November 29th, 2017
… while the new funding is welcome, the WITB is relatively ineffective in raising the incomes of the working poor, and does not greatly help social-assistance recipients transition to employment. It should be reformed so as to provide a supplement to wages in real time, should provide a higher maximum benefit and should be phased out much more slowly as employment income rises so as to reduce high marginal tax rates for the working poor.
Tags: featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario urged to make ending child poverty an election issue
Tuesday, November 21st, 2017
Children and families who are Indigenous, racialized, newcomers, living with disabilities or in lone-parent, female-led households experience much higher rates of poverty, according to the 2016 census… almost 16 per cent of children in Canada were living in poverty in 1989 when Parliament unanimously pledged to end child poverty by 2000. But due to lack of federal action on the promise, child poverty in Canada rose to 22.3 per cent in 2000.
Tags: budget, child care, disabilities, housing, ideology, immigration, Indigenous, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, youth
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Liberal government urged to be more aggressive in tackling poverty
Tuesday, November 21st, 2017
The most recent international rankings of 41 developed nations shows Canada lags behind its peers in several areas related to poverty reduction. The UNICEF report placed Canada near the bottom in terms of global goals to end poverty in all its forms and ending hunger. Statistics Canada’s latest census data revealed that 1.2 million Canadian children lived in a low-income household in 2015, representing 17 per cent of all children.
Tags: budget, featured, housing, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
You know, there’s a reason no one’s put in a guaranteed annual income yet
Monday, November 20th, 2017
The idea of a “guarantee” is uncontroversial enough: we’ve already accepted that Canadians are entitled to a certain minimal standard of living. Why not make that implicit guarantee an explicit one? … Unless you’re willing to advocate for a drastic increase in taxes, the responsible thing to do is abandon the impossible GAI dream and focus on what is possible with current levels of tax revenues.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
There is a prescription for poverty’s punishing impact on health in Ontario
Wednesday, November 15th, 2017
One of the reasons poverty is expensive is because people living in poverty have higher rates of chronic disease, including diabetes, cancer and heart disease. Children in low-income families are at higher risk of diagnosed mental health problems, nutritional deficiencies, asthma and injury… Aside from being inadequate, our social assistance programs are dysfunctional… With the cost of poverty at more than $32 billion per year in Ontario, we can’t afford to continue with the same flawed system…
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, mental Health, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Why the history of poverty keeps repeating itself
Saturday, November 11th, 2017
Allocating too much money for welfare risks antagonizing other voters who fret about waste or dependency. And who want their own needs and entitlements taken care of first — like hydro rate reductions, child-care subsidies, or middle class tax cuts… Logic (and humanity) demands a single, simple, basic income program that consolidates the tangle of existing rules into a more coherent and cost-effective form of social support, now being tested in a pilot program in parts of the province.
Tags: featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Time to act on poverty [ODSP]
Thursday, November 9th, 2017
Currently, for every dollar earned over $200 a month while on Ontario Disability Supports (ODSP) there is a reduction in benefits by 50 per cent. Instead, why not allow ODSP recipients to earn up to the agreed-on poverty income level before the reduction begins? This will cost the government nothing, provides a huge incentive to work and will raise the standard of living for those currently receiving the government pittance.
Tags: disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Ontario should move quickly on welfare benefits
Sunday, November 5th, 2017
For a group so fond of proclaiming its commitment to social justice, the Wynne government has done remarkably little to help some of the very poorest people in Ontario… The report given to Jaczek last week recommends increasing that basic amount by 24 per cent over the next three years, to $893 by the year 2020. This is the minimum the government should do. It would still leave tens of thousands of people living in state-sanctioned poverty…
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Welfare in Canada, 2016
Wednesday, November 1st, 2017
Welfare incomes for the four illustrative households typically range between 20 and 40 percent of after-tax average incomes… When compared to after-tax median incomes, the adequacy picture comes out slightly better… Regardless of which measure is used, the figures tell a powerful story about the adequacy of welfare incomes of Canadians.
Tags: budget, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Delivery System | No Comments »
Canada needs a bigger change in pension system
Friday, October 27th, 2017
Defined benefit pension plans like the one at Sears have been declining for many years, at least in the private sector… part of the problem is greedy corporations… But… private pension plans are struggling because of more fundamental issues. Retirees are living much longer and interest rates have been at record lows for years. That forces companies to make up the shortfall at a time when they may be fighting for their very survival.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Policy Context | No Comments »
Recent Comments