Archive for the ‘Social Security Debates’ Category
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Use the tax system to fight poverty
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013
First.. the maximum level of income-tested child benefits should be raised to cover the full cost of raising children. It is deplorable that one in seven Canadian children live in poverty… Second, Canada should significantly increase the federal Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB) to deal with the growing reality of low pay and precarious work… Third, as a long-term goal, we should abolish welfare as it currently exists… A negative income tax has been broadly championed across the political spectrum
Tags: featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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It’s time to end the erosion of public assistance in Ontario
Saturday, April 27th, 2013
For the last 20 years, social assistance has eroded to the point that it would take a 56-per-cent rate increase to bring the single rate back to where it was in 1993. For a single person with disabilities, a 22.2-per-cent increase would be required to restore purchasing power to levels paid in 1993… We live in tough times. But social assistance costs and the number of people receiving assistance have moderated. The scare of high caseloads that began the erosion of benefits did not materialize in the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, ideology, poverty
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Ontario budget 2013 should boost child benefit to help poor kids
Monday, April 22nd, 2013
Ontario’s child benefit is the cornerstone of the province’s 2008 plan to cut child poverty by 25 per cent in five years and lift 90,000 children out of poverty. So far, the benefit has helped to pull 40,000 children above the province’s low income limit. But advocates worry that without the promised increase, the government will miss its 2013 target… The 25-in-5 Network for Social Justice, a coalition that lobbied the government for the poverty reduction target, is looking for budget measures to…
Tags: budget, ideology, poverty, rights, standard of living
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PFO’s Six Point Plan for Action on Poverty Eradication
Tuesday, March 19th, 2013
Mar. 14, 2013
It has been almost five years since the social assistance reform was announced as one of the cornerstones of the Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy… The budget to be delivered in April offers an opportunity for the Premier to show “good faith” in her expressed intention to be the “social justice premier”… more than 100 PFO leaders from more than 20 communities all across Ontario… endorsed the following Six Point Plan for a Social Justice Agenda:
Tags: budget, Health, homelessness, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Wealthy Canada can do better for its poorest citizens, UN report says
Monday, March 4th, 2013
March 4, 2013
More than 900,000 people are assisted by food banks in Canada, according to Food Banks Canada… The number of households in Canada that are unable to meet their food needs every day is rising, from 7.7 per cent in 2007-08 to 8.2 per cent (1.1 million households) in 2011… Aboriginal households are three times more likely to experience hunger than non-aboriginal households.
Tags: Health, ideology, Indigenous, poverty, standard of living
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Grasp the nettle of guaranteed income
Sunday, March 3rd, 2013
March 3, 2013
What about drawing a poverty line below which no one may fall? A line above which income will still be taxed but below which income is topped up from overall tax revenue? … How much more efficient it would be than the piecemeal income-support systems we have now… How much less demeaning and costly it would be than our systems involving means tests and overlapping bureaucracies at every level of government.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Canada’s economic stabilizers are broken
Friday, February 15th, 2013
Feb 13 2013
Neither level of government is expected to provide any respite for the working poor, people with disabilities and those still struggling to get back on their feet after the recession. The problem is not just austerity. It is austerity imposed with no regard for the hardship caused by a stop-and-start, up-and-down, lurch-prone economy.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Panel proposes sweeping change to Ontario’s child welfare system
Tuesday, January 29th, 2013
Jan. 23, 2013
Queen’s Park should raise the age of financial and emotional support for former Crown wards to age 25 from age 21 within the next three years, says a government-appointed panel… It would cost about $26 million to extend support to age 25 for youth in the child welfare system, according to a study released by Elman last year. But he said the cost would be more than recouped through reduced jail and social assistance costs and increased tax revenue as young adults are better able to complete their education and get good jobs.
Tags: budget, standard of living, youth
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Beyond expanding the CPP, the challenge of population aging presents an opportunity to reform it
Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
Dec 17, 2012
Suppose an additional levy were tacked onto CPP premiums. Only instead of going into the regular CPP pot, the funds would accumulate in the contributor’s own personal fund — like an RRSP, only compulsory. To avoid wasting money on management fees, funds would be invested strictly passively (ie buying the indexes), with the particular asset mix varying as the investor aged: more stocks when younger, more bonds when older.
Tags: ideology, pensions, standard of living, tax
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Time to put Flaherty on the spot [ CPP ]
Sunday, December 16th, 2012
Dec. 15, 2012
“Canada’s current social security contributions and payroll taxes are relatively low compared to other OECD countries”… Currently, Canada allocates a mere 5.5 per cent of its economic activity (GDP) to social security and payroll taxes. If all the improvements outlined in the paper were phased in, the percentage would rise to 6.3 per cent… Canada’s contributions would still be low by OECD standards — and remain at the very bottom of the G-7 group of industrialized countries.
Tags: economy, pensions, tax
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