A Working Income Tax Benefit That Works

The November 2005 federal mini-Budget planted the seeds of an innovative social program – a Working Income Tax Benefit to supplement the wages of the working poor. While the initiative is a promising though decades-old idea, the hard part will be to implement the Working Income Tax Benefit in such a way that it is visible to its recipients, responsive to fluctuations in their employment earnings and closely integrated with provincial/territorial income support systems and minimum wages. Caledon argues that the provinces and territories may be better placed than Ottawa to deliver the new program.
Like the National Child Benefit, the Working Income Tax Benefit should be debated and developed as a national – not just federal, nor just provincial/territorial – social policy reform
ISBN – 1-55382-161-0