Fletcher off target on child care costs
Vancouver Island News Group / Nanaimo News Bulletin
Letters -- Alison Cahill, Nanaimo
16 Jan 2007

To the Editor,

I'm not sure which reality Tom Fletcher lives in, but it's certainly not the same one in which parents of young children live (Why not child care? Jan. 11).

He seems to think that out of the Conservatives' $100 Universal Child Care Benefit, there is "play" money left over each month and that the Tories have increased daycare spending.

I beg to differ.

To begin with, that $100 is taxable and the Tories increased everyone's base tax rate last year. Even at the lowest rate, that $100 is now reduced to $84.50.

Next, you need to account for the fact that the Young Child benefit portion of the monthly Child Tax benefit (not the same as the UCCB) was eliminated in order to help pay for the UCCB. For me, this meant a reduction in my monthly benefit of $35.00.

Subtracting that, the $100 is now down to $49.50.

The next cost is the increased cost of licensed daycare - $4/day ($2 increase is only for children over the age of three) for infants and toddlers - the same parents affected by the elimination of the Young Child benefit, or $80/month.

You are now in a deficit position of $30.50.

This is before the remaining equations are factored in: the increase in Pharmacare deductible (provincial drug plan) and the decrease in Child Tax Benefit in the coming year, because your taxable income has gone up thanks to the Tories making the UCCB taxable.

Needless to say, the domino effect means that the Tories are actually saving money rather than increasing spending, and are requiring parents of small children to shoulder even more of the tax burden.

Guess who won't get my vote in the next federal election.

No wonder opponents will argue that this is wanton slashing of social programs.

They are absolutely correct and Fletcher should check his facts and figures to make sure they are accurate before sounding off on a subject he clearly knows very little about.