The COVID-19 pandemic has made a lasting impact on vulnerable populations around the world. As young single urbanites continue to make up the most financially vulnerable population in Canada, students in particular remain among the most at-risk during global recessions due to high unemployment rates and modest financial security. Therefore, as tax season approaches, Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) repayments should be reduced or postponed for vulnerable youth until the economy recovers.
Loss of opportunities and an inability to work has forced many students to apply for CERB or CESB to stay afloat. As shutdowns persist across Canada, students remain in a state of economic crisis—many of whom work in public sectors that have seen especially heavy restrictions since the beginning of the pandemic. Asking students to pay back CERB/CESB during what will likely be the toughest tax season in a decade is nothing less than cruel.
The reality is that people continue to struggle to pay their bills as the economy remains at a standstill, many of whom will need forgiving tax regulations in order to get by. Even during a normal year, many students rely on their annual tax refunds to help pay back academic loans and debts. An unexpectedly high tax return year on top of record-breaking unemployment has the potential to be financially crippling for young adults. Students are out of work and out of places to turn for financial aid, and most graduates are tens of thousands of dollars in debt, unable to find decent jobs and still struggling with regular, day-to-day pandemic stress.
Right now, standard income tax rates simply do not make sense this fiscal year. At the very least, a national tax stimulus should be applied to provide low-income earners some relief, similarly to how the government responded during the 2008 recession. Nearly 8.9 million Canadians applied for CERB or CESB in 2020—many of whom continue to rely on it. Thus, expecting Canadians to pay the same tax percentile on their earnings as pre-pandemic years is nothing short of outrageous.
Without proper solutions to provide students with the means to obtain financial self-sufficiency during the pandemic, CERB and CESB repayments should not be an expectation. Students need more help, not more bills to pay.
Featured graphic from file.
