Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said tax measures should help Canadians who continue working after age 65. .According to Blacklock’s Reporter, federal data showed that more retirement aged people are working now than ever before..“Efforts are being undertaken to support retirees,” Minister Champagne wrote in a letter to the Commons Industry Committee. The Income Tax Act should “not create barriers to seniors who want to remain in the workforce.”.Champagne’s letter follows a March 9 committee report recommending cabinet “encourage labour market participation among workers who are approaching retirement age or who have reached it, by introducing new tax or other incentives.”.“The government is in alignment with this recommendation,” wrote Champagne. .“With Canada facing the labour shortage outlined in the report, the government supports the committee’s conclusions that the tax system should not create undue barriers for seniors who wish to return or remain in the workforce.”.Champagne did not detail any new proposals and estimated that with current income splitting provisions and age credits, a single senior “can have at least $25,396 in taxable income before paying any federal income tax in 2023.”.“As a result, about half of all Canadian seniors do not pay any federal income tax, which in turn incentivizes the participation of seniors in the labour force,” wrote Champagne..In a report Working Seniors In Canada from StatsCan in 2017, it mentioned that the number of retirement-aged people who were still working was the “highest on record” and it was predicted to increase in the future..“The percentage of seniors who reported working nearly doubled between 1995 and 2011, with most of the increase coming from part-year or part-time work,” wrote analysts..According to StatsCan, 7% of 80-year-olds were still working, while 20% of 70-year-olds were still in the workforce; jobs included sales, retail management and truck driving..Pandemic-era research by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries found 69% of people surveyed agreed with the statement “I will work longer than planned because we need the income.” .Fourteen percent of Canadians said they did “not expect to ever retire.”.“Forty percent of non-retired Canadians do not know when they will retire and a further 14% state they do not expect to ever retire,” said the Actuaries’ 2021 report Retirement Risk Survey. .Asked what steps they would take if they retired and savings ran out, 47% of workers replied “Go back to work.” .Others replied they would “sell my house” (34%), “dig into money I might otherwise have left to my children” (16%) or “move in with my children” (2%).
