Province announces one-time payments for people who made less than $125K last year<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians can expect a\u00a0$500 cheque this fall, following the provincial government’s announcement Wednesday morning of a one-time cost-of-living payment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0cheque will be sent to every adult who filed a\u00a02021 tax return with income less than $100,000 a year. People who earned between $100,000 and\u00a0$125,000 last year will be given a cheque for $250-$500, using a scaled-down formula. The provincial government says about 392,000 people will receive a cheque<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There will be no applications necessary to receive the cheques. People who haven’t filed their 2021 tax returns will receive a cheque if they file before the end of the year<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than offering some form of tax rebates, Furey\u00a0said, his government wanted to leave the spending to people’s discretion<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finance Minister Siobhan Coady\u00a0says cheques can go out as soon as the plan passes the House of Assembly, and expects money should be people’s pockets by Christmas<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government estimates the\u00a0payments will cost the province about $194 million<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April the provincial government projected a budget deficit of $351 million, but Coady said the payments have been\u00a0made possible by higher than expected revenues largely due to the price of oil being higher that projected in the budget<\/p>\n\n\n\n The announcement was welcomed by people who spoke to CBC News in downtown St. John’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taylor Baker-Tucker\u00a0said the payment will be a nice boost to help with his rising rent<\/p>\n\n\n\n Progressive Conservative finance critic Tony Wakeham\u00a0commended the province for the move\u00a0and said it’s something the opposition has been calling for for over a year<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it should\u00a0have come sooner, he said, and he has questions about the future of other temporary solutions, like\u00a0the recent 10 per cent increase to the provincial income supplement<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wakeham also questioned the timing of the announcement, coming on\u00a0the first day of the fall session of the provincial legislature<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jim Dinn, the interim leader of the provincial New Democrats, called the announcement\u00a0 CBC News<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Province announces one-time payments for people who made less than $125K last year Most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians can expect a\u00a0$500 cheque this fall, following the provincial government’s announcement Wednesday morning of a one-time cost-of-living payment The\u00a0cheque will be sent to every adult who filed a\u00a02021 tax return with income less than $100,000 a year. People […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"enable_post_split":"0","post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThis is our effort to help right now, when people need it the most,<\/q>\u00a0said Premier Andrew Furey during a news conference at Confederation Building in St. John’s<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cost of living is a current and real emergency for many people in our province,<\/q>\u00a0he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We know the needs of every household in our province are different, and this cost-of-living cheque gives everyone the flexibility to put some money where they need it most, whether that’s groceries or rent, home heating or gas<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a recent graduate and trying to break into the workforce and all that kind of stuff, it’s incredibly difficult,<\/q>\u00a0said Hillary Winter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trying to buy a house is, like, essentially out of the question,<\/q>\u00a0she said\u00a0
Even groceries cost so much.\u2026 Everything feels like it’s way more than it was even five years ago, and it’s becoming a huge barrier<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I live downtown, so obviously rent is a little bit higher in downtown,<\/q>\u00a0she said.\u00a0
It’s awesome to have a little bit of extra money to go toward\u00a0it<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long-term plan needed, not one-off solutions: NDP<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
I think there’s still lots of things that need to be addressed,<\/q>\u00a0he said.\u00a0
$500\u00a0per person will not solve all the problems.\u2026 It’s a step, but it’s only one step<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n
another one-off.<\/q>\u00a0He said he wants to see more from the provincial government to address the cost of living for\u00a0the long term<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This amount might, might, cover some the amount of rent increase that some people are facing. They still got to put food on the table, buy necessities, pay heat and light,<\/q>\u00a0he said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s got to be forward-thinking, proactive and long term<\/q><\/p>\n\n\n\n