{"id":465,"date":"2024-03-25T19:47:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T19:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/?p=465"},"modified":"2024-04-06T18:49:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T18:49:50","slug":"tax-fairness-for-seniors-basic-needs-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/2024\/03\/25\/tax-fairness-for-seniors-basic-needs-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax Fairness for Seniors, Basic Needs and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let’s Make This an Election Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Single Seniors for Tax Fairness<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Single Seniors for Tax Fairness<\/em><\/strong> is working for fairness for single seniors in Canada.  A compelling webinar was held at the end of February.  This site is well worth a read.  The numbers are quite shocking and I\u2019m sure most would be interested. Note that the purpose of this group is not to take anything away from couples but make the same tax benefits available to single seniors as well.  There\u2019s some powerful women on these committees and they have lobbied many MP\u2019s and Cabinet Ministers.  They submitted presentations for the upcoming budget. (submitted by WST)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women and Seniors Unfairly Burdened – Financial Post Article<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the System Discriminates against Single Retirees<\/a> Extracted from the book Retirement for the Record and reprinted with permission from Daryl Diamond, Diamond Retirement Planning Ltd. (Copyright 2020)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are Single Seniors UnFairly Penalised at Tax Time?<\/a> (YES!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can the tax system be corrected?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To promote fairness, they recommend the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bRecommendation 1<\/strong>: That the government implement a tax provision for single seniors to offset the considerable reduction in tax payable by couples applying for pension income splitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200bRecommendation 2:  <\/strong>That the government implement a new single senior non-refundable tax credit equivalent to half of the personal amount for the applicable taxation year, e.g., 7,500 in 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommendation 3<\/strong>: That the government increase the pension income amount from 2,000 to 3,000 for single seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommendation 4: <\/strong>That the government increase the income clawback thresholds for Old Age Security and for the age amount non-refundable tax credit for single seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recommendation 5:<\/strong> That the government amend the tax treatment of registered plan proceeds on the death of a single senior to allow a tax-deferred rollover to any beneficiary (regardless of relationship to the deceased) with the proviso that the proceeds be paid out, and taxable to that beneficiary, over a maximum of ten (10) years. Should the beneficiary die before the end of the ten years, the balance would be fully taxable in the year of death of that beneficiary.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BASIC NEEDS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of our Tin Cup members put this together and while it may not represent everyone, it\u2019s close.  So these numbers are general \u2013 not specific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basic needs:<\/strong>
Average rent for one bedroom apartment in B.C. – $2163.00 per month (Alberta rent is about $1200.00)
Appr. hydro- 26.00 per month (depending on the home)
Appr. Landline phone – $20.00 per month,  approximate Cell ph:  $45.00\/month
Food – $300.00 per month
Total – $2524.00 per month
*not including any car or health costs

Old Age Pension for age 65 to 74 yrs – $713.34 per month
Supplement (under $21,624.00 per yr. , if you qualify) – $1065.47 per month
Total – $1778.81
Needs to raise supplement about 70% to meet basic needs for lower income seniors

If you don\u2019t get the supplement, it\u2019s usually because you have some other income coming in. If you\u2019re still working (clawed back), that\u2019s other income. Of course the way the govt. explains it is made purposefully to confuse the public.
If you get no supplement or other income, a senior is $1810.66 below the basic needs.
Is it any wonder, they are living in vehicles!! 
A friend of a member of Tin Cup has lived in a very old apartment building for 25 yrs. She pays $983.00 per month. Her hydro is $26.00 per month, phone is $35.00, food between $200.00 and $300.00 per month. She has a bit saved so she\u2019s able to still have her car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let’s Make This an Election Issue Single Seniors for Tax Fairness Single Seniors for Tax Fairness is working for fairness for single seniors in Canada.  A compelling webinar was held at the end of February.  This site is well worth a read.  The numbers are quite shocking and I\u2019m sure most would be interested. Note that the purpose of this group is not to take anything away from couples but make the same tax benefits available to single seniors as well.  There\u2019s some powerful women on these committees and they have lobbied many MP\u2019s and Cabinet Ministers.  They submitted presentations for the upcoming budget. (submitted by WST) Women and Seniors Unfairly Burdened – Financial Post Article How the System Discriminates against Single Retirees Extracted from the book Retirement for the Record and reprinted with permission from Daryl Diamond, Diamond Retirement Planning Ltd. (Copyright 2020) Are Single Seniors UnFairly Penalised at Tax Time? (YES!) How can the tax system be corrected? To promote fairness, they recommend the following: \u200bRecommendation 1: That the government implement a tax provision for single seniors to offset the considerable reduction in tax payable by couples applying for pension income splitting. \u200bRecommendation 2:  That the government implement a new single senior non-refundable tax credit equivalent to half of the personal amount for the applicable taxation year, e.g., 7,500 in 2023 Recommendation 3: That the government increase the pension income amount from 2,000 to 3,000 for single seniors. Recommendation 4: That the government increase the income clawback thresholds for Old Age Security and for the age amount non-refundable tax credit for single seniors. Recommendation 5: That the government amend the tax treatment of registered plan proceeds on the death of a single senior to allow a tax-deferred rollover to any beneficiary (regardless of relationship to the deceased) with the proviso that the proceeds be paid out, and taxable to that beneficiary, over a maximum of ten (10) years. Should the beneficiary die before the end of the ten years, the balance would be fully taxable in the year of death of that beneficiary.\u200b BASIC NEEDS One of our Tin Cup members put this together and while it may not represent everyone, it\u2019s close.  So these numbers are general \u2013 not specific. Basic needs:Average rent for one bedroom apartment in B.C. – $2163.00 per month (Alberta rent is about $1200.00)Appr. hydro- 26.00 per month (depending on the home)Appr. Landline phone – $20.00 per month,  approximate Cell ph:  $45.00\/monthFood – $300.00 per monthTotal – $2524.00 per month*not including any car or health costs Old Age Pension for age 65 to 74 yrs – $713.34 per monthSupplement (under $21,624.00 per yr. , if you qualify) – $1065.47 per monthTotal – $1778.81Needs to raise supplement about 70% to meet basic needs for lower income seniors If you don\u2019t get the supplement, it\u2019s usually because you have some other income coming in. If you\u2019re still working (clawed back), that\u2019s other income. Of course the way the govt. explains it is made purposefully to confuse the public.If you get no supplement or other income, a senior is $1810.66 below the basic needs.Is it any wonder, they are living in vehicles!! A friend of a member of Tin Cup has lived in a very old apartment building for 25 yrs. She pays $983.00 per month. Her hydro is $26.00 per month, phone is $35.00, food between $200.00 and $300.00 per month. She has a bit saved so she\u2019s able to still have her car. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":590,"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions\/590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seniorstincup.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}