February 22, 2008

Making It A Little Easier For Low-Income Ontario Families

File Your Income Tax Return To Qualify For New Monthly Ontario Child Benefit

LONDON - Low-income families will begin receiving the new monthly Ontario Child Benefit in July 2008 - but they need to file their income taxes first.

The Ontario Child Benefit will provide $100 a month to a family with two children under 18 and income of $20,000. For that same family, this amount will grow to about $180 a month in July 2011 when the benefit is fully implemented. Families earning more than $20,000 may also be eligible, based on the number of children.

"We are helping low-income families provide for their children every month," said Children and Youth Services Minister Deb Matthews. Matthews is the Chair of the Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction, which also includes the Ministers of Health, Education and Finance among others.

The committee is in the process of looking at the best way to build a long-term poverty reduction strategy by mobilizing different levels of government, businesses, not-for-profits and committed citizens across the province.

"The Ontario Child Benefit is the cornerstone of our long-term plan to lift low-income families out of poverty by creating more opportunities," Matthews added. The Ontario Child Benefit will represent a total annual investment of $2.1 billion to help nearly 1.3 million Ontario children living in 600,000 low-income families when fully implemented.

To begin receiving the new, monthly Ontario Child Benefit in July, families must:

• File income taxes in a timely fashion (roughly before April 30)
• Register for the Canada Child Tax Benefit

The Ontario Child Benefit will be sent out with the Canada Child Tax Benefit and the National Child Benefit Supplement. To learn more, go to www.ontariochildbenefit.ca.

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