Ottawa changed the rules on CERB repayments — here’s what it means for taxpayers … Jamie Golombek -- Financial Post Feb 12, 2021
It is hard to imagine why our
government would choose to increase anxiety levels for nearly half a million Canadian
Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) recipients and belatedly issue
an ‘oops, we didn’t mean that.’ Those who had a marginal (just over $5,000
gross) income in 2019 were already in dire financial trouble.
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) declarations after the fact that they meant $5,000
NET income is nonsense. Revenue Canada employees may think of income in net
terms, but the public does not.
While younger generations may find Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement
that his government will not pursue CERB recipients with a $5,000 gross income
who otherwise qualify for the program as benevolent, older people will
recognize the iron fist in a velvet glove.
The term comes from Latin: “suaviter
in modo, fortiter in re” translated by Napoleon as “soft of speech and manner, yet with the
inflexible vigour of command.”
Recipients of CERB payments are now wrestling with taxes owed on income
replacement. When the payments were announced, the government announced CERB
payments would be taxable. That is inexplicable as the same government requires
employers to deduct income tax before payment to avoid the difficulties people
face filing their 2020 tax returns.
Hidden in all this is the unprecedented action of the government to close down
businesses and services without justifying the action as necessary in a free
society. The sets an ugly precedent.
We see incremental shifts by our federal government from an entity created to
serve us in matters beyond the capacity of local provinces to a government that
controls our livelihoods and, through that, our very lives.
It is a grand plan to shift Canada and her people from a democracy to an
autocracy. Be wary!
John Feldsted … is a political commentator, consultant, and strategist. He makes his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
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