Experts say the income thresholds the CRA relies on for financial hardship assessment are an ‘outdated metric’ of poverty and low income
uses a statistical measure of low income to determine who may be eligible for help that some policy experts say is excessively low and which may be excluding many Canadians who are facing financial hardship.
When an individual’s family net income is higher than the threshold, the taxpayer can ask to repay what they owe over a longer period of time if they don’t qualify for financial relief. But the CRA said for benefit overpayments it rarely stretches the timeline for recouping the debt beyond 12 months.
In Toronto, Bridget Tougas, a recently separated mother of two, learned at the end of January that she owes nearly $12,000 in federal and Ontario child benefits. When she asked if CRA could recover the overpayments over a longer period of time, she was told that wasn’t possible either. Even with the agency withholds 100 per cent of her child benefits, it would take roughly two years for Ms. Tougas to offset her debt.
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