Campaign Update: Carbon Taxes And Rebates

Canadians are now into a federal election campaign and tax reductions of all kinds are on the agenda. Prime Minister Mark Carney has already reduced one of the greatest obstacles for the Liberal Party to gain re-election: the consumer carbon taxes as of April 1, 2025. Technically it is being reduced to zero, as without an act of Parliament he cannot eliminate the tax. However, the regulations behind the tax are under the purview of the Finance Minister, and on closer look, we can get a real glimpse of what’s to come should the Liberals win the election.

Canada is transitioning away from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and towards two new pillars of support to ease the economic disruption caused by the pandemic. Pillar 1 includes three pared-down “recovery” benefits and Pillar 2 focuses on a new “Simplified” Employment Insurance regime. The CERB has been extended by another four weeks but will end on September 26. 

The final CERB payment period will end on August 29, leaving millions of people at risk of receiving nothing more and wondering what will happen next.  Now that Parliament has been prorogued to September 23,  a very uncertain fall lies ahead of many of them.  However, government sources confirm that more information is forth coming before the end of this month on on how the CERB program will transition to EI.  Tax, bookkeeping and financial advisors can identify clients at financial risk to have more proactive discussions about their options, especially as tax bills come due on September 30 for the 2019 tax year. But how do you do so?

Despite a hack at CRA, which shut down its site for applicants of various pandemic relief programs, Period 5 Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) applications can now be accessed.  This newly extended program also marks the beginning of new eligibility requirements. There is now a sliding revenue test, eliminating the requirement for a minimum 30% drop. In addition, a special top-up subsidy is available to some employers.  Following are details to consider:

Close to 2 million people still need to file their tax returns for 2019 before September 30 to avoid late filing penalties if they owe.  That means there is still an “end of tax season” rush coming for busy tax professionals. CRA released tax filing and processing statistics on August 10 which also show the numbers for average refunds and balances due for the 2019 tax year. That the average refund for 2019 was $1840 and the average balance due is $6,070. 

As Canadians face the prospect of higher spikes in COVID cases this fall, the financial fallout will be grim for millions who also face the loss of CERB and other safety nets that were available in the first wave of the pandemic. There are seven basic strategies advisors and clients can discuss now in anticipation of a 2020 tax year dominated by pandemic stress and a 2021 that may be characterized by more debt, and more tax audit potential:

Join some of Canada's leading Real Wealth Managers™ for a discussion about wealth preservation in these very uncertain times. It’s a  free virtual, national conversation that brings together advisors from the tax, bookkeeping, insurance, financial planning and legal communities to discuss true-to-life issues that require inter-advisory collaboration. Details below.