Ontario’s low-income tax credit gives fewer benefits than minimum wage hike, watchdog says

The Ontario government’s new low-income tax credit provides fewer benefits than the cancelled minimum wage increase, and will add $1.9-billion to the deficit, according to a new report from the province’s fiscal watchdog.

“Ultimately what we found was, under an increased minimum wage situation, more people would get a higher benefit versus the LIFT credit,” Mr. Weltman said.The report also found that, due to lost provincial tax revenue from cancelling the minimum wage increase combined with the cost of the LIFT credit, the province’s pocketbook will worsen by $1.9-million over the next four years.

The Progressive Conservative government announced last fall that it was halting a planned increase to the minimum wage that was scheduled to kick in this year, following up on a promise made during the spring election campaign. In November’s fiscal update, the government announced the new tax cut for low-income workers making less than $30,000 a year, a variation on Ontario Premier Doug Ford's election promise to end income taxes to every worker making minimum wage.

This isn’t an intellectually dishonest argument at all. Assuming no job cuts or reduction in hours worked in response to another large min wage increase within a short period of time, is definitely an accurate way to do predictive modeling. Haha.

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Fault economics. Min wage increase results in lost jobs. Factor that in and I bet the tax credit is better.

But small businesses won't have to close or lay off people. Minor point of course.

Thats a lot of assumptions built into those projections... If raising the minimum wage forces small business owners to scale back on labour to stay afloat then your full employment projections on wage gains vs tax credits go pffft.

“The LIFT credit, however, is more focused or more specifically targeted to those low-income individuals.” --- In other words it is accomplishing what it was intended to do

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Minimum wage hike has more benefits for workers than tax credit: FAOOntario's financial watchdog says a planned minimum wage increase scrapped by the Tory government would have benefited workers more than a tax credit brought in to replace it. Also, water is wet. Sure it is, tax credits its like Grandpa coming around once a year with a baby sucker coated with sugar sticking in people mouths that melts away without any taste. Fake news
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