Pension splitting's nasty surprise

Chris Charlton, NDP critic for Seniors and Pensions, went after the Tories during Question Period June 4 over their promotion of pension splitting for seniors as a way to increase after-tax income.

“I don’t think they ever really thought this program through,” she says, citing one example of a couple who saved $2000 on their taxes by pension splitting, but ended up paying $5400 more for one spouse’s nursing home care as a result of the adjustment in their disposable income.

This scenario is, according to Charlton, not uncommon, and costly to redress. “To add insult to injury, they’re being made to pay a 5% penalty to re-file for an adjustment to their return. I’m asking the government, at a minimum, to waive the penalty, since seniors can’t afford accountants to save them from the government’s false advertising.”