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Provincial rebate cheques are in the mail

 

Taxpayers do not need to apply for the rebate. Pictured: Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Photo Credit: Doug Ford/LinkedIn.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced that his government’s $200 rebate cheques for all eligible Ontario taxpayers are on their way to taxpayers’ mailboxes. 

Ontarians do not need to apply for the rebate.

The rebate cheque plan was announced last October and was promoted by the Ford government to help Ontario families “struggling with the high costs of the federal carbon tax and interest rates.”

For families, the government will also send an additional $200 for each eligible Ontario child. The rebate is also tax free.

The province says that a family of five with two adults and three children would receive $1,000 if eligible.

The rebate is expected to provide $3 billion in support, with approximately 12.5 million adults and 2.5 million children eligible.

Ford says that the rebate “will give Ontario taxpayers, especially families with children, some much-deserved help so they can make ends meet.”

The province says that it can provide the rebate because of higher-than-expected provincial sales tax revenues, which inflation has increased, and because of recent changes to the federal government’s capital gains tax.

Despite the $3-billion price tag for the province, Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy is assuring the public that the rebate is making life more affordable while also “retaining prudent, responsible fiscal management.”

The province says that those eligible for the rebate must be 18 years or older at the end of 2023, have been a resident of Ontario on Dec. 31, 2023, and have filed a 2023 Income Tax and Benefit return by Dec. 31, 2024.

The rebate will not be going out to those who are bankrupt or incarcerated.

In terms of families, those who qualify for a Canada Child Benefit (CCB) payment for 2024 will receive an additional $200 per child under the age of 18.

The taxpayer rebate payment for children will be made out to the person who receives the CCB for the child.

The government is also providing an opportunity for a taxpayer rebate payment of $200 per child through an alternative process for those who did not receive the CCB for 2024.

Opposition parties have dismissed the rebate plan as a “gimmick” ahead of a possible imminent provincial election. 

 

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