The Retired Teachers of Ontario
LES ENSEIGNANTES ET LES ENSEIGNANTS RETRAITÉS DE L’ONTARIO
DISTRICT 43 - NIPISSING
North Bay, Ontario, Canada
www.rto-ero-nipissing43.org


Political Action Information links

In the August newsletter, Forward 43, Political Action Committee Chair, Jan Poudrier referred to two important topics:

EI Reform, and the imposition of HST in Ontario.

Click on the pictures (or titles) below to link to the appropriate information...
Employment Insurance Reform - read how our workforce has changed - and why our Employment Insurance program needs to be changed for the sake of thousands of unemployed people.
HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) - read about the the effect that it will have on our disposable income - and visit the petition website if you are not in favour of this taxation method!


SENIOR HOMEOWNERS - Property Tax Grant

  • If you are 64 years of age or older,
  • own and occupy a principal residence in Ontario and
  • paid property taxes on it in 2008

you may qualify for a grant of up to $250 in 2009. Applications for the grant will be included in your 2008 personal income tax return. The maximum grant will be increased up to $500 for 2010 and subsequent years

click *here* to see an information bulletin from the Ontario government that gives full details about this plan.

(note - the website allows you to download a printable copy of the information ... when you go to the site, simply click on the words
"download pdf" in the upper right corner.)

 

Pension Income Splitting - now a reality!

January 1st 2007 marked the start of income splitting for pensioners, which lets pensioners allocate up to one-half of their pension income to a resident spouse or common-law partner.

Your Ontario Teachers Pension qualifies for pension splitting!

The pensioner and spouse or common-law partner have to make a joint election in prescribed form with their income tax returns for the year on or before their filing due date (generally April 30 of the year following the tax year).

The new Form T1032, Joint Election to Split Pension Income,
can be viewed or downloaded for your reference by clicking *here*

The 2007 income tax return will include a new line for the pensioner to deduct the amount of pension allocated to the spouse or common-law partner. A new line will also be added for the spouse or common-law partner to report the allocated pension income

  • or by reading the following recent article from the Windsor Star -
    "The Nuts and Bolts of Pension Splitting"
    (click on the above title to view/download you can increase the type size by using the "zoom in" feature once article is loaded)
  • or by clicking **here** to check out an excellent article, by Brian Quinlan (January 2008). He points out several cautions about pension splitting that other advisory information articles might have missed - well worth reading!

_____________________________________________

Although there are several tax preparation programs, only one seems to handle this years pension splitting. It is UFILE and can be seen at UFile.ca .     The MaxBack refund analyzer examines, “you and your family to find every possible deduction or transfer, to help minimize your taxes and maximize your refund.”

Thanks to John Cullis for providing the following links that give further information on Income Splitting and the UFile tax software:

1b.  Rates for this April’s 2007 Return, -Government says:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/individuals/faq/2007_rate-e.html

 2. Teachers Pension Plan, -OTTP’s analysis on “Income Splitting” has done the math on three examples: 50/50, 45/12; 35/20 at
http://www.otpp.com/web/website.nsf/web/pnwin08_p5

3. Toronto Star’s James Daw on Feb 21 column, - “But, in terms of convenience and precision, the UFile MaxBack function beats other consumer software hands down.” …down to the last penny. http://license.icopyright.net/user/webEprint.act?id=3.7212-29371

 4. UFile  background, 10 reasons.. 
http://www.ufile.ca/TaxNewsAndTips/QuickTaxUsers.asp

5. UFile offers a refund analyzer:
http://www.ufile.ca/WhyUFile/MaxBack.asp

6. Review “Tax changes made for 2007”: http://www.ufile.ca/TaxNewsAndTips/TaxLawChanges.asp#on

 Experience UFile, -take step-by-step guided flash tour: http://www.ufile.ca/WhyUFile/EasyToUse.asp

RTO/ERO has been one of many "seniors organizations" that have actively lobbied for pension income splitting over the past few years - and now it is a reality.

Make sure you get the full benefit of this tax advantage!

Jan Poudrier
Chair, District 43 Political Action Committee

The Provincial Office of RTO/ERO has prepared an excellent summary of the current political issues and concerns that we should all be aware of.

Click *here* to become informed!

IMPORTANT Political Action News !!

ONTARIO PETITION
FOR
MINIMUM CARE STANDARDS
IN
NURSING HOMES

 

Dear Members;

If you wish your loved ones who are in nursing homes to have more than the minimum level of care as has been set out in Bill 140, please sign the following petition.

click *here* for Ontario Health Coalition information release
click *here* for a printable copy of the petition

If we live long enough, we also may find ourselves in a nursing home one day with minimum care which is definitely not adequate.

Sincerely,

Janet Poudrier
District 43 PAC Chair

Note: The bottom of the petition states a deadline of June 8/07 ... but disregard this. The Ontario Health Coalition will welcome the support of our concerned members at any time . We have to let them know!

The Ontario Health Coalition website dealing with long term care issues can be found at: http://www.web.net/~ohc/LongTermCare.htm - click on this address to get informed!

Initiatives for District/Unit Political Action Committees  

1. Prepare for Provincial and Federal elections by recruiting other members to join the chair to form an active committee.

2. Attend workshops, seminars, meetings held by organizations that involve seniors’ issues i.e. Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat, Ontario Health coalition, LHINS, Network for Elder Abuse, CARP, etc,

3. Arrange regular meetings with your M.P.s, M.P.P.s. Make use of RTO/ERO Position Papers which include questions that can be asked.

4. Use phoning committee as a hot line to make all members aware of urgent matters regarding health care changes or pension changes.

5. Use new website and newsletter to engage members to become politically active.

IF YOU WISH TO BECOME AN ACTIVE ADVOCATE FOR SENIORS’ ISSUES, PLEASE CONTACT :
Janet Poudrier at 472-8474.

Report to RTO/ERO Provincial Political Action Committee
ONTARIO ELDER ABUSE CONFERENCE 2007
Janet Poudrier and Donna Reid (click *here* to see the report)



CHILD CARE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
 HOW GOOD IS CANADA’S CHILD CARE?
 A report written by
District 43 PAC Chair Jan Poudrier
for the Provincial PAC Committee and the Provincial Executive (March 2007)
click *here* to read the report


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