Press Release
Ontario seniors will benefit from tax relief to help with household costs and property taxes.
More than 740,000 seniors will see an increase in tax relief with the enhancement of the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit, which provides seniors who own or rent their home with up to $1,025 in relief for the sales tax on energy and for property taxes.
Senior homeowners with low-to-moderate incomes also will receive property tax relief through the annual Ontario Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant with up to $500 starting in 2010, doubling the amount available in 2009.
These credits are in addition to the new Ontario Clean Energy Benefit, which will give more than four million Ontarians, including seniors, 10 percent off their monthly electricity bills for the next five years, effective Jan. 1, 2011, to help manage rising electricity costs.
These are some of the measures the government has introduced to help Ontario seniors with household costs through the “Open Ontario” plan.
“Ontario seniors have worked hard to make our province the great place we all enjoy, but many of them on fixed incomes are feeling the pinch of the rising cost of living,” said Finance minister Dwight Duncan.
“Our government is providing some help with household costs to make things a little bit easier for seniors,” he noted.
To apply for the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit and Ontario Senior Homeowners’ Property Tax Grant, seniors need to file their 2010 tax return.
