Q & A: Tax specialist explains what Quebec Budget 2023-2024 means for you
CTV News Montreal's Caroline Van Vlaardingen spoke to BDO Canada tax partner Ernie Furt about what Quebec's new budget means for taxpayers. You can watch the full interview above and read the full transcript below.
Caroline Van Vlaardingen: So, Ernie, the finance minister is calling it the most important tax cut in recent history of Quebec, or in the history of Quebec—4.6 million Quebecers will see tax cuts. Let's talk again about what it will represent for individuals and couples.
Ernie Furt: Well, let's take a look at different taxable income levels. If you're a single individual earning $40,000, it means $210 to you. If you're a couple earning $40,000, it means $56 to you. At the $100K level, if you're single, it means $814. And if you're a couple, it means $1,627. So, that's pretty good at the end of the day. And the good thing about it is, if you're a higher income earner, you're not clawed back this amount. So, this is a permanent cut. And as long as it remains there and people can earn what they earn, as Eric Girard said, they can benefit from this tax cut.
Quebec budget 2023 tax cuts
Caroline Van Vlaardingen: So often Quebecers say the more you earn, the more you pay. So, this is kind of nice that it does allow higher income earners, you know, those who earn more, to also benefit from a tax cut. There's something interesting about the QPP Quebec pension plan as well. Let's talk about that for a second. What's going on here?
Ernie Furt: Well, they are encouraging older workers to continue to work. So, currently, if you work and you're over the age of 65, and forever you are paying QPP on your earnings, on a salary or as a self-employed worker. However, starting in January 2024, if you reach the age of 72, you no longer have to pay any QPP on your earnings. That's a $4K amount that you're actually saving if you're earning about $63,100 a year or more. So that's an interesting cut. And if you're self-employed, you can double that. So, that's one thing that they're doing.
Another thing that they're doing is you now are going to be able to have the option to stop paying QPP at age 65, provided you're taking it. You currently do not have that option in Quebec. You do have that option in Canada, but you don't have that option in Quebec.
Now, the last QPP issue that they're doing is, currently, you can take your QPP and defer it up to age 70, where you're getting an increase of 0.5 per cent per month, i.e. a six per cent increase in your baseline QPP payments. So they're allowing you to defer this until age 72, and I didn't see it but it's probably there where this 0.5 per cent increase per month is still going to be there. So if you don't need the money, you don't have to take it, but you have to look at the time value of money and how old you're going to be when you're going to die, but nobody knows that.
Ernie Furt: Quebecers will always be inflamed with something. So, will it? It depends. You know what? Just go out there, do what you got to do, and work. I wish everybody has to pay more taxes next year, because that means you've earned more than the previous year.
LISTEN on CJAD 800 Radio: What are you getting from the Quebec budget?
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
WATCH LIVE As former prime minister Mulroney lies in state, public tributes in Ottawa begin
Members of the public who wish to pay tribute to Brian Mulroney can visit his casket in Ottawa starting this afternoon.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Images taken deep inside melted Fukushima reactor show damage, but leave many questions unanswered
Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant.
DEVELOPING February inflation rate slows to 2.8% as price growth unexpectedly eases
Canada's annual inflation rate unexpectedly fell to 2.8 per cent last month, amid sharp declines in cellular and internet services as well as slower grocery price growth.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.