Archive for the ‘Social Security Policy Context’ Category
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A simple, feasible way to expand CPP
Thursday, December 12th, 2013
An expansion of the earnings cap is both feasible and simple to administer. Only employees with above average wages would be subject to the higher contribution rates, limiting the impact on small business… employees and employers can negotiate changes to wages or workplace pensions to incorporate the new CPP structure… this kind of CPP reform could alleviate some of the financing pressures faced by workplace pension plans.
Tags: economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
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Poverty reduction key to fairer, more prosperous Ontario
Wednesday, December 4th, 2013
While it appears Ontario will fall short of its “25 in 5” target, the province has made some progress and laid three critical building blocks that should provide the foundation for its next five-year strategy, expected in early 2014… fighting poverty is required to grow our economy… investments in policies like the new Ontario Child Benefit, refundable tax credits for low income people, and minimum wage hikes show that smart social policy works.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Strengthening the Canada Pension Plan: Take it to the public
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
The Caledon Institute has proposed a ‘1.5 solution’ to CPP expansion that would increase the earnings replacement rate by 1.5 times from its current 25 percent to 37.5 percent of Yearly Maximum Pensionable Earnings. We also would raise the Year’s Maximum Pensionable Earnings by one-half, from $50,100 to $75,150 in 2013. This option would be of particular assistance to… those… unlikely to enjoy coverage of employer-provided pension plans.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, pensions, standard of living
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Welfare Re-form: The Future of Social Policy
Tuesday, November 12th, 2013
… the future of social policy involves more than improvements to welfare alone… Three distinct components of income security reform would help… increasing the amount of Canada Child Tax Benefit to a maximum $5,400 per child… enhancing the value of the Working Income Tax Benefit that is paid to low-income workers and extending coverage to more of the working poor… creating a federally-delivered Basic Income for persons with severe and prolonged disabilities
Tags: budget, disabilities, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Enhancing CPP reduces poverty
Friday, November 8th, 2013
… in the absence of pension policy change, nearly six million workers in Canada, particularly younger workers, will experience a significant decline in living standards when they retire. If we don’t solve the poverty problem for seniors with an enhanced, universal, cost-effective plan like CPP, seniors will be a much bigger draw on tax revenue in the future… including old age security, guaranteed income supplement, Pharmacare, medicare premiums, and social services.
Tags: budget, disabilities, economy, Health, pensions, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Don’t forget the poor and hungry
Wednesday, November 6th, 2013
Despite some incremental improvements by Wynne, social assistance payments are falling behind, creating an unhealthy and stressed underclass. That’s a tragic loss of human potential… Improvements to the Ontario Child Benefit, paid to low-income families, would be a good start… “If the payments weren’t constantly eroding we might see less children at food banks.”… Perhaps nothing is worse than the welfare payments for single adults…
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Weighing in on pension reform
Monday, November 4th, 2013
instead of raising taxes on incomes, sales or business (dead-weight taxes that damage the economy), the new pension plan should be financed by capturing some of the unearned income that accrues to Ontario’s monopoly-owned assets like land and resources — wealth that economists call “economic rent.”
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, pensions, standard of living
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Our pension peril is the third rail of politics
Thursday, October 31st, 2013
… the book is essential reading for decision-makers. And an indispensable primer for voters — the people who ultimately call the shots, and who will pay the price if the pension peril is put off for another day… it outlines the demographic and fiscal pressures that pension founders didn’t foresee, and that fund managers closed their eyes to. Retirees are living far longer than ever envisioned, and fewer workers are entering the labour force to backstop any pension losses…
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Pension shift puts decades of progress at risk
Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013
By almost any measure, our defined-benefit pensions, which guarantee a continuing benefit on retirement that is based on a percentage of employee earnings for each year of service, are the most effective retirement savings system in the country… This is not a zero sum game where one group benefits at the expense of the other… Canada’s public pension funds offer financial security to millions of Canadian retirees while providing a major source of patient, long-term capital that funds vital infrastructure projects…
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, pensions, standard of living
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Saving data to save the country
Friday, October 11th, 2013
In its 2012 Budget, Ottawa announced – with no warning − that it was dismantling the National Council of Welfare. This body had been set up by the federal government in 1962 to provide advice to the minister responsible for income security in Canada… the rules were far more convoluted than we had ever imagined and the rates of assistance were far lower than we ever thought possible. Over time, the welfare study became a powerful weapon in the war on poverty
Tags: budget, featured, ideology, jurisdiction, poverty, standard of living
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