EXCERPTS:
Before you get your next bill from the gas company or cable company, take the total from last year's bill and send them a cheque.
When the bill does come, if the amount is less than what you have already sent, send the cable, gas, electric or cell phone company an invoice asking for your money back because you sent them more than what they really needed.
Sound a little ridiculous?
Well that is exactly what the Canadian government does.
Before the federal government even receives your latest income tax return, they will send you a cheque for your Canada Child Tax Benefit or Universal Child Care Benefit.
But even when you receive your notification about how much money you generously received and how it was calculated, you are told if there was any overpayment on their part you will be required to pay that money back to the government.
Immediately.
So if anytime in the last year, your income increased for any reason, if you happen to have gotten married or had any more children and haven't filed your income tax yet, you will have to pay a portion of that money back.
If you and your spouse file your income tax returns separately, and revenue Canada receives one before the other and in the meantime has calculated your GST credit for the year, you will also be told that you have to pay back the money you received the year before.
And how long are you given to pay that money back?
According to the correspondences that you have gotten from the taxman, you are required to pay the money back as soon as you receive the notice about how much money was originally overpaid to you in the first place.
How can the government send out money without knowing how much they should be giving in the first place?
Why start dishing out money, helping out families who might just need the extra cash, only to ask for it back?
Instead of giving people hope that the federal government isn't as bad as we think and that they might actually want to help working families, Revenue Canada should wait until they have all the most up to date income information before sending out money.
Would it not be easier to only have to send out one cheque instead of having to send out a second letter and invoice and then wait for people to give the money back?
Fortunately for the people who don't have hundreds of extra dollars lying around to just give to the government, they will generously take what you owe off of any future credits you might receive.
-reprinted from the Wetaskiwin Times