Mr. Speaker, it is tax time once again and I implore the Minister of Finance to change the laws affecting the taxation of child support income.
A woman named Joan from my riding of Fraser Valley West is about to lose her home because she is being forced to pay $1,300 in income tax this year on the child support money she receives from her ex-husband. Joan makes only $9,800 a year in personal income and receives $12,000 a year in child support payments to raise her children. She has to claim child support as taxable income while her ex-husband, who has already paid income tax on the money, gets to claim the child support as a tax deduction.
Joan says the government is literally taking food out of her children's mouths and she will have to move out of her home to pay the tax bill. I agree with Joan and thousands of single mothers like her. It is simply not fair.