One of the most effective ways of reducing poverty is helping low-income people fill out their tax returns for free, according to a community group that presented to Nelson City Council at its March 19 meeting.
“This has been proven to be a simple, effective means of reducing poverty and shown to have had a very positive economic impact,” said Emma Dressen of Together Nelson.
Dressen and Together Nelson’s Marjie Lesko explained a new pilot project — the Nelson Tax Help Clinic — that is intended to expand on similar programs run in previous years in Nelson by the Seniors Coordinating Society and the Nelson and District Food Centre.
In 2022, those programs provided tax filing help to 690 people and are estimated to have resulted in more than $200,000 in tax refunds to Nelson and area residents, Dressen said.
“So that is all money that is going back to residents and back to our local economy.”
She said assistance with tax filing can result not only in an income tax return but also open up eligibility for programs such as the Guaranteed Income Supplement or Child Tax Benefit.
Together Nelson’s pilot project will expand the previous services by increasing the income thresholds for eligibility, by including self-employment income in the service, and by offering additional education and counselling to clients on tax-related matters.
The pilot project’s income threshold is the equivalent of the living wage for Nelson, which is $21.14 per hour as calculated by Living Wage Canada. The Nelson Tax Help Clinic’s eligibility threshold is the annual equivalent — $41,000 per year for a single person, rising incrementally with family size.
Intake for the pilot takes place at Kootenay Kids and the Nelson Food Centre and potential clients can call 250-505-2325 to get the process started. The clinic began in February and will run through April.
Together Nelson is a poverty-reduction project of the group Nelson at Its Best. The pilot clinic is funded by the Columbia Basin Trust and the Union of BC Municipalities. In 2022, city council wrote a letter in support of this funding.
READ MORE:
• Together Nelson releases poverty reduction plan
• Study casts new light on poverty in the West Kootenay
• B.C.’s new poverty goals both ‘realistic and ambitious,’ says minister