Last Updated on: 4th September 2019, 02:03 pm
I don’t know if the Ford government is literally overflowing with imbeciles or if it’s just so bent on dinking over the average Ontarian that it doesn’t care if it has to blow its own foot off to do it, but here we are again. Ontario’s low-income tax credit not as good for workers as $15 minimum wage, and it fuels the deficit, new report says
A minimum-wage increase to $15 would have put much more money into the pockets of the working poor than Premier Doug Ford’s low-income tax credit, which will cost $1.9 billion over five years and fuel the deficit, says Ontario’s independent financial watchdog.
A new report from the Financial Accountability Office said the cancellation of the previous Liberal government’s $1 increase in the hourly minimum wage means the province will take in less tax revenue to offset the cost of the Low-Income Individuals and Families tax credit better known as LIFT.
The result should come as “no surprise” to the Progressive Conservative government, said Peter Weltman, who heads the office tasked with keeping track of fiscal issues.
“When you cut revenues you’re going to increase your deficit.”Weltman’s report found many minimum wage earners do not pay provincial tax and will not benefit from the LIFT credit. He noted, however, about 90 per cent of minimum wage earners will not pay provincial income taxes under LIFT, compared with 78 per cent previously.
The report also estimated 1 million Ontarians will get an average LIFT tax credit of $409 this year at a total cost to the treasury of $418 million. Only 38 per cent of minimum wage earners in Ontario will receive the low-income tax credit.But there are 1.3 million Ontarians who would have enjoyed average after-tax gains of $810 a year under a $15 minimum wage that had been slated to take effect on January 1 of this year, the report added.
Vic Fedeli, the one that’s supposed to be the numbers guy, defended the PC plan by saying that “There’s no sense having a higher minimum wage if you don’t have a job,” blatantly ignoring even more numbers, specifically the unemployment one that hit its lowest mark since the year 2000 after the business killing minimum wage went up thanks to the Liberals last year.
Another win for the government for the people.
