Thank you, Mr. Dechert. You raise an important point.
The working income tax benefit is refundable, and therefore low-income Canadians can, assuming this bill passes in time, claim it as of January 1, 2010. They can file their tax returns early in January, if they want to, and claim the refund.
The money cannot be paid out unless it's authorized by Parliament. For this reason, I urge the committee to return the legislation to the House as soon as possible, so that the enhanced working income tax benefit will be available promptly in the new year. The proposed changes will increase benefits by an additional $580 million. As I know you know, Mr. Dechert, the purpose of the working income tax benefit is to help people over the welfare wall, to make it advantageous financially for people who are receiving social assistance to enter the workforce.
The former situation, before the working income tax benefit, was that the system itself discouraged people or made it hardly worth their while to go to work rather than not go. That's not good for the economy and not good for the country, and we've changed it.