Ontarians do not need to apply for the rebate. Pictured: Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Photo Credit: Doug Ford/X.
The Government of Ontario has announced that their $200 rebate for all eligible Ontario taxpayers will be going out in late January or early February.
Ontarians do not need to apply for the rebate.
The rebate cheque plan was announced at the end of October and touted by the Ford government as a way 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.
Premier Doug 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 they are able to 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, Ontario’s Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy assures 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.
Although opposition parties have dismissed the rebate cheque plan as a “gimmick,” the program does have the support of a prominent taxpayers’ advocacy group.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a not-for-profit citizen’s group dedicated to lower taxes, less waste, and accountable government, supports the move.
Canadian Taxpayers Federation Ontario Director Jay Goldberg says, “Putting more of taxpayers’ money back in their pockets is always a good thing.”
“Today’s rebate announcement, coupled with the government’s recent gas tax cut extension announcement, shows this government is putting more money back in taxpayers’ pockets,” he continued.
However, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation wants the Ford government to go further in providing tax relief.
They note that during the 2018 provincial election campaign, the Progressive Conservatives promised a 20 per cent middle class income tax cut and a permanent gas tax cut.
So far, the income tax cut has not been introduced and the gas tax cut is only temporary.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
