VICTORIA — A report says thousands of people in British Columbia saw their $1,000 COVID-19 benefit unfairly clawed back by the provincial government.
Ombudsperson Jay Chalke’s report says so far, 12,000 people have been told to repay their B.C. Emergency Benefit that the government said was for workers who had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The claw back came because the government didn’t properly communicate a deadline for people to have filed their 2019 taxes to be eligible, and by the time the deadline was announced, Chalke says, 90 per cent of applicants had asked for the cash.
The report says people were not told retroactive changes by the government made them ineligible, and Chalke wants the government to give those people a chance to file their 2019 taxes, which would allow them to keep their benefit.
The B.C. government announced the one-time, tax-free benefit in March 2020, which paid out $653 million in benefits.
A response contained in the report from Heather Wood, the deputy minister of finance, says the government won’t be implementing the recommendation because the benefit is an income tax refund for 2019, regardless of whether people understood that.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2023.
The Canadian Press
News Related-
The best Walmart Cyber Monday deals 2023
-
Jordan Poole took time to showboat and got his shot blocked into the stratosphere
-
The Top Canadian REITs to Buy in November 2023
-
OpenAI’s board might have been dysfunctional–but they made the right choice. Their defeat shows that in the battle between AI profits and ethics, it’s no contest
-
Russia-Ukraine Drone Warfare Rages With Dozens Headed for Moscow, Amid Deadly Winter Storm
-
Trump tells appeals court that threats to judge and clerk in NY civil fraud trial do not justify gag order
-
Can Anyone Take Paxlovid for Covid? Doctors Explain.
-
Google this week will begin deleting inactive accounts. Here's how to save yours.
-
How John Tortorella's Culture Extends from the Philadelphia Flyers to the AHL Phantoms
-
Tri-Cities' hatcheries report best Coho return in years
-
Wild release Dean Evason of head coaching duties
-
Air New Zealand’s Cyber Monday Sale Has the 'Lowest Fares of 2023' to Auckland, Sydney, and More
-
NDP tells Liberals to sweeten the deal if pharmacare legislation is delayed
-
'1,000 contacts with a club': Tiger Woods breaks down his typical tournament prep to college kids in fascinating video