Posts Tagged ‘pensions’
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A smart social policy innovation for lean times
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
Nov 24 2010
…the Caledon Institute… urges policy-makers to simplify the current hodgepodge of tax deductions, welfare payments and disability benefits into a single national program that provides Canadians who are too disabled to work with an annual stipend of $12,160; a refundable tax credit of $2,000 a year and the equipment and services they need (wheelchair, dialysis equipment, portable oxygen, personal-care attendant, visiting homemaker)… Their proposal would cost the federal government approximately $5 billion a year and save the provinces about $2.6 billion a year for a net public outlay of $2.4 billion.
Tags: budget, disabilities, pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Inclusion Debates | No Comments »
Why 68 or 70 should be the new 65
Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010
Nov. 23, 2010
[Next month] federal and provincial finance ministers meet in Alberta to discuss options for increasing Canada Pension Plan benefits and ways to pay for higher benefits. While a contribution rate increase is being considered, a retirement age increase is unfortunately not yet on their agenda. Members of Parliament will have the opportunity to put this option on the table, and they should seize it: A retirement age increase could break the reform stalemate, make the CPP more stable, maintain fairness across generations and help Canada reclaim its role as a world leader in pension reform.
Tags: budget, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Pension envy all the rage
Saturday, November 20th, 2010
Nov. 18, 2010
… if Ottawa implements recommendations from a University of Toronto think-tank, the normal retirement age for… receiving Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits would be pushed back two years from the current 65 to 67. Worse, early reduced CPP benefits could no longer commence as early as 60 but be deferred to 62. This would happen gradually, over 10 or 15 years… It should be up to individuals to decide to work until 67, not up to government. And those running that government shouldn’t be treated more generously than the working Joes who make their early retirements possible.
Tags: pensions, rights, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Why women need to save more than men for retirement
Monday, November 15th, 2010
Nov. 12, 2010
During their working lives, women face a much larger savings challenge than men because they typically earn less – and then have to stretch their incomes out over a longer life-span when they retire. “Women live longer and they marry people who are older than they are. Add those two together and that, in itself, will cost you 20- to 25-per-cent more,” says York University’s Moshe Milevsky… they’ve earned less than the average male… and… have a longer expected life, so [they] have to save proportionally more…
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living, women
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Pension reform: Governments need to move
Sunday, November 14th, 2010
Nov 14 2010
One reason the CPP is on such a solid financial footing is that its payouts are among the lowest in the world, averaging a mere $6,000 a year and capped at $11,000 annually, which is not good enough… What worked for many in the past — robust private pensions and rising markets — can’t be counted on in future… Public consultations have dragged on for years. Ontario is the latest to release a discussion paper, which calls for a “modest expansion of benefits.”… the finance ministers… need to start answering the multi-billion-dollar question of what they mean by “modest.”
Tags: pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
Tax savings on bigger CPP far off
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Nov 10 2010
… requiring workers and their employers to contribute more to CPP would make for fewer low-income workers, and workers with income not so low, qualifying for the tax-free Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) to the Old Age Pension. Both of these pensions are a significant cost item in the federal budget, and the cost is projected to soar as the Baby Boom generation starts to pass the age of 65. GIS benefits are phased out as income, excluding Old Age Security, increases… this reality may help to explain why Flaherty joined Duncan in trying to persuade other provinces to throw their support behind an expanded CPP.
Tags: pensions, standard of living, tax
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
A Basic Income Plan for Canadians with Severe Disabilities
Monday, November 8th, 2010
November 8, 2010
… a proposed new federal Basic Income program that would replace provincial/territorial social assistance for most working age persons with severe disabilities. The Basic Income program would be a close model of the long-established and well-regarded Guaranteed Income Supplement for low-income seniors. The second reform is to convert the existing non-refundable Disability Tax Credit into a refundable Disability Tax Credit that would extend compensation for the extra costs of disability to the lowest-income people with disabilities.
Tags: disabilities, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
The Liberals are talking pension reform
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Nov. 7, 2010
… the federal Liberals deserve praise for going where they should logically fear to tread. According to a party “white paper”… they are now contemplating an election platform that would include a voluntary supplemental pension plan and would ease the rules that currently limit retroactive payments for late claimants of Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits to one year… Any attempt at pension reform should look at the whole picture, not just savings vehicles.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
CPP is in need of a boost
Sunday, November 7th, 2010
Nov. 6, 2010
… consultant Greg Hurst… identifies six “myths” propagated by Big CPP proponents. One is that CPP operates as a standalone program. Many employer pensions are integrated with CPP so any expansion of contributions and benefits will impact the rest of the system. Another myth is that CPP is inexpensive to administer. Perhaps most serious is the notion that CPP is self-funded and imposes no tax burden. Public-sector employers pushing for a big CPP are funded by taxpayers… as are CPP contributions made by those employers.
Tags: pensions, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | 1 Comment »
Fighting the new ‘normal’ [retirement benefits]
Saturday, October 30th, 2010
Oct. 30, 2010
BMO has released a report — When to Retire, Age Matters — that may cause Canadians to emulate Germany and keep working as long as possible. This is counter to a brief vogue when Canadians sought earlier retirement. In the 1970s, the median retirement age was 65, which fell to 60.6 by 1997. But it edged up to 61 in 2005… the simplest fix would be to raise — perhaps double — the base annual earnings on which CPP is calculated. Currently, it’s around $47,000. Doubling it to $94,000 would almost double benefits but not the required contributions from employees and employers.
Tags: pensions, standard of living
Posted in Social Security Debates | No Comments »
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