Some working women discuss what income-splitting means to them

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget office has found that the Conservative government’s new income-splitting tax plan may encourage some low-wage workers, especially women, to leave or stay out of the workforce. Here is some reaction from women across the country about how income-splitting affects them:

— For Sheena Griffin, a 32-year-old payroll administrator in Grande Prairie, Alta., with two children, the tax implication is not great enough to make up for a year’s salary.

“It’s great for those who are already stay-at-home parents or something, but not great enough for someone to quit a job,” she says.

— Angie Steadman, a Starbucks manager in Ottawa, filed for the measure this year but did not receive any money.

“(If we did get it) it wouldn’t give us as much as our salaries, I think. But if it did, I’d stay with my kids in a heartbeat,” she says, adding that she’d also have more children.

— Stephanie Gillis, a teacher and mother of two in Leduc, Alta., had not heard about the measure before being approaching by The Canadian Press. She says her family will claim the benefit in the upcoming tax year. She plans to put the money into school funds for her children.

“Any little bit would help, providing we are not taxed on it come income tax time, like the Universal Child Care Benefit is now,” she says. “It helps at the time but then part of it is taken away.”

Gillis says she would consider leaving the workforce thanks to the benefit, at least until her children enter school, allowing the family to save on childcare.