Feds expected to collect $340 million in tax from child benefits

The federal government has begun mailing its new monthly Universal Child Care Benefit cheques to parents, but some experts say the benefit isn’t worth as much as advertised.

Those two factors leave $158.22 a year per child for that Ontario parent, or an additional $13.18 a month net.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is depending on parents to open their wallets and start spending the billions he’s rolling out in family benefits in hopes of kick-starting Canada’s economy ahead of a fall election.

More information about the Universal Child Care Benefit can be found here.

If a Canadian parent has already been receiving UCCB cheques, they should receive the boosted cheques automatically on Monday, because they are already in the government’s system. Subsequent payments will continue on the 20th of each month.

That means, for instance, that if you register for the UCCB this week, you should hear back from the CRA in time to receive your first payment on September. 20.

Yes, the benefit is taxable.

“It would be significant in the third quarter, but that boost is not going to get repeated in August”, he said, referring to this week’s retroactive one-time payment.

The Family Tax Cut allows couples with children under 18 to split their income and reduce their tax burden by as much as $2,000.

The benefit was touted by the Conservative government for months leading up to the budget – and they’re still touting it today.

The Conservatives’ point man on the file, Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre, wore a shirt at a government announcement with a Conservative Party of Canada logo prominently displayed, which brought criticism from his political foes.

The roll out of the increased UCCB comes as the October 19 federal election approaches. She will get an extra $1,440 for her kids in 2015.

People both with and without children are weighing in on social media on just how that money should be spent. “We believe mom and dad are the real child-care experts”.

But the tacit admission of what the UCCB really is (or is not) also indicates a potential vulnerability for the Conservatives among swing voters, and a potential opening for other parties – the NDP in particular, at the moment – willing to revisit national daycare. And Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, who have tried to trump the Tories by promising a bigger child benefit for all but the highest earners, have left the door open to a more narrowly targeted daycare program as well.

Tom Mulcair and the NDP are proposing a child care-focused plan that would create 1 million new child care spaces, while introducing a national $15-a-day child care program.