Conservative leadership candidate Andrew Scheer says he wants to make maternity and parental leave less expensive for families by designating the benefits parents receive while on leave as tax-free.<\/p>\n
A release from the Scheer campaign Tuesday framed the proposal as “giving more choice to parents of newborns.”<\/p>\n
The costs of caring for a new baby, it said, coupled with lost income when a parent stays home to be a caregiver, “can be overwhelming and a source of stress in what should be an incredibly happy time.”<\/p>\n
Scheer is proposing the government not deduct\u00a0federal income tax on the special benefits parents can draw on if they’re eligible for maternity or parental leave under the employment insurance system.<\/p>\n
Because provincial income tax is also deducted from\u00a0EI benefits, the federal government would need provinces to agree to forego this revenue in order for benefits to be entirely tax-free.<\/p>\n
Scheer also proposes raising\u00a0the limit on how much employment income a parent can earn each week while on leave.<\/p>\n
Currently, if a claimant works while receiving\u00a0EI maternity benefits \u2014 which are paid to a\u00a0biological mother for\u00a015 weeks after giving birth \u2014\u00a0the government deducts the\u00a0entire\u00a0amount of the income earned from each\u00a0week’s benefits.<\/p>\n
Parental benefits \u2014\u00a0which are available for up to 35 weeks for either\u00a0parent, including an adoptive parent\u00a0\u2014 are clawed back if the claimant earns more than $50 of other income in a given week.<\/p>\n
But under a\u00a0pilot project in place until 2018, those receiving\u00a0parental benefits can\u00a0keep 50 cents of benefits for every dollar of other income earned, up to a limit of 90 per cent of the average weekly earnings used to calculate their benefit amount.<\/p>\n
It’s unclear whether the federal government will turn this pilot project into a permanent change down the road.<\/p>\n
Scheer’s campaign says he\u00a0wants to go beyond what the federal government is currently looking at with its\u00a0pilot project.<\/p>\n
“I have heard countless stories of frustration from parents who feel the current limits are too restrictive,” Scheer’s release said. Raising the limit\u00a0“just makes sense.”<\/p>\n
Scheer’s campaign estimates that making benefits tax-free\u00a0would cost the federal government at least\u00a0$500-600 million annually, a calculation based taking\u00a0the number of EI maternity and parental leave claimants in 2014-15 and assuming an average annual income among them of about $50,000, triggering a 15 per cent federal taxation rate.<\/p>\n
A more precise\u00a0cost would vary each year based on how many parents\u00a0drew benefits and how high their rates of taxation would otherwise\u00a0be.<\/p>\n
\n\nAs Prime Minister I will make EI maternal and parental benefits tax free. https:\/\/t.co\/s0anQlUH0p<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/3eurG7bMaa<\/a><\/p>\n\u2014
\n @andrewscheer<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIf taking time off work to care for children became more popular as a result of this kind of change, the cost\u00a0to\u00a0the government would rise.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, children in lower- and middle-income families could benefit from the boost to their\u00a0household’s budget.<\/p>\n
\n- \u200bO’Leary shrugs off attacks at Conservative debate<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Candidates spar over jobs, taxes while taking aim at O’Leary<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- O’Leary spent almost all of the 1st week of campaign in U.S.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
Article source: http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/scheer-maternity-paternity-benefits-tax-free-1.3970637?cmp=rss<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Conservative leadership candidate Andrew Scheer says he wants to make maternity and parental leave less expensive for families by designating the benefits parents receive while on leave as tax-free. A release from the Scheer campaign Tuesday framed the proposal as “giving more choice to parents of newborns.” The costs of caring for a new baby, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-69904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}