SENIORS PAN TAX DEFERRAL

A Saskatchewan seniors’ advocacy group says the provincial government’s decision to make good on a campaign promise by allowing some seniors to defer the education portion of their property taxes is “almost an embarrassment.”

The deferral won’t come close to making up for new and increased costs for seniors living on fixed incomes handed down in the 2017-18 provincial budget, Saskatchewan Seniors Association board member Mike Kaminski said.

“Seniors living on fixed incomes are having extreme difficulty and a lot of that difficulty is because of the government’s budgets in the last three years,” said Kaminski, who also serves on the National Pensioners Federation’s executive.

The program will be introduced “in the coming months” and be available to seniors with an income below $70,000, according to the throne speech Lt.- Gov. Vaughn Schofield read in the legislature on Wednesday.

“Effectively, seniors, if they choose, at $70,000 income or less can defer the payment of the property taxes until one day that property is sold,” Premier Brad Wall told reporters on the first day of his final legislative session.

Saskatoon Council on Aging executive director June Gawdun said she is of two minds about the deferral. While it may allow seniors to “age in place” for longer, it could slap them with a large tax bill when they sell the home and move, for example, to a care facility, she said.

Government spokeswoman Kathy Young wrote in an email that to be eligible, seniors must hold at least 25 per cent equity in their home and have adequate fire insurance, and can choose each year whether to defer the education portion of their property taxes.

“There is no minimum limit as to how much seniors can choose to defer. Seniors can also choose to repay all (or) part of the total amount they have deferred at any time, without penalty,” Young wrote.

The government’s 2017-18 budget reduced the education property tax mill rate across the province. For residential properties, the rate dropped to 4.12 from 5.03, with revenues forecast to increase to $360 million due to higher property value assessments.

The mill rate reflects how much a homeowner pays for each $1,000 of their home’s assessed value. Residential property owners pay the education portion of their taxes on 70 per cent of that value, meaning the annual tax on a home with an assessed value of $100,000 is $352.

Kaminski said other measures handed down in the budget, including provincial sales tax on medical, health and property insurance, an increase in long-term care home fees and the elimination of chiropractic and podiatry services, make the deferral difficult to stomach for seniors.

“This government’s approach to seniors living on fixed income is that there has been little or no consultation or collaboration with most of the seniors’ organizations,” he said. “I hate to say it, but I would say (the government is) totally out of touch.”

Seniors living on fixed incomes are having extreme difficulty … because of the government’s budgets.