Nearly 15,000 checks to help high-cost-of-living Manitobans marked ‘return to sender’

Nearly 15,000 of the checks the Manitoba government issued earlier this year to help with rising fuel and food costs never reached their intended recipients.

The county reports that 14,913 checks billed as a “carbon tax relief fund” in January were returned to the sender. Mail can be returned for a variety of reasons, including being sent to the wrong address or the person’s departure.

While the government says it will respond to any eligible adult who says they haven’t received their $225 or $375 check, the county’s inability to reach thousands of people with free money raises new questions about the use of only the postal service to hand out checks.

Josh Brandon, a community animator with Winnipeg’s Social Planning Council, said the current approach excludes people who need this money the most.

“We know that low-income families have moved disproportionately over the past year. They probably don’t follow current events and don’t know about the details of the program,” said Brandon.

“It’s families struggling to pay rent, to buy groceries. Those are the households we should be reaching with the affordability money… It shows that we really need to rethink this program.”

The county has handed out 679,352 carbon tax checks as of February. Of that total, 14,913 checks have been returned and another 43,815 have yet to be cashed, representing nearly nine percent of the total number of checks issued.

Thousands of missing checks

People who believe they qualify and have not received a check have been instructed to do so fill out a government form online. The province has reviewed 2,600 of the 4,000 applications received so far, and in most cases the check was found to have been sent to an old address.

Yet thousands of additional people are still without the check they are entitled to. Brandon suspects that low-income people, especially the homeless, fall into that category.

“We see that phenomenon with the voting register” and the tax return, he said.

Because they’re more likely to have unstable living arrangements, “the government doesn’t always have the most up-to-date records on their address,” Brandon said.

The criteria for the carbon tax relief fund included having a household income below $175,000 in 2021.

The province began issuing checks by mail in 2021 when it introduced the annual education tax credit and Manitoba Public Insurance began mailing rebates to customers. Critics have suggested that the county and the Crown Corporation could use direct deposit in addition to mail, or simply reduce the taxes or fees customers pay in the first place.

The government has defended sending checks by mail as a safe and reliable way to deliver money, adding that it cannot access people’s electronic banking records and that getting that information would delay payments.

Direct Deposit Dilemmas

The electronic approach has not yet been embraced everywhere. The Canada Revenue Agency has been urging people to sign up for direct deposit for income tax returns for years, but it still sent 2.6 million printed checks last year.

Manitoba Treasury Secretary Cliff Cullen was unavailable for an interview on Thursday.

When asked if the province would consider switching to digital payment for future check payments, a government spokesperson opened the door a bit: “Manitoba may consider exploring other options in the future.”

Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, said some voters’ perceptions of the Progressive Conservative government may improve if they hold a check from the government. That may have influenced the county’s post-only approach, he said.

“I think the check is a physical government presence in your wallet,” he said.

A taxpayer lawyer said the province is smart about giving more money back to Manitobans, but he said using the mail isn’t enough when tens of thousands of people still haven’t deposited their money.

“The federal government, for all its mistakes, has figured out how to make direct deposits. I imagine the government of Manitoba could do the same,” said Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Sally Massey Wiebe works at Community Financial Counseling Services, an organization that helps low-income Manitobans file their taxes.

She said it’s inevitable that some people will have complications when receiving their check, as the money is sent on a certain time period based on criteria. In the meantime, people’s life situations can change, from a change of address to ending a relationship.

These financial systems are “difficult for many people to navigate. They are complicated and often the rules around them are not understood,” she said.

Massey Wiebe also highlighted that more than 91 percent of checks sent “went where they were intended”.

The government’s website for the Carbon Tax Relief Fund says applications for people who haven’t received their checks will remain open until July 1, but a government spokesperson says questions will be reviewed after that date and checks will still be received if needed. are sent.