It was revealed on Friday in the Legislature that the new Tuition Access Bursary Program is a taxable benefit.
A Conservative MLA says that is going to mean even less students will qualify for it.
MLA for Moncton Northwest Ernie Steeves says this could end up driving your income up for tax purposes.
He says, for example if your annual income is $58, 000 and you have three children who may receive $6000 each through the Bursary program, that could drive your income up, “That means that you will not get the TAB program for the following year. Not only that, you may have raised your income enough that your children may not qualify for a student loan. This tuition that was free is now a taxable benefit, and you’ve lost all of your tax credits to claim along the way, so this could end up costing you money.”
He say it’s disappointing that the Liberals waited until the last day of the Legislature to reveal this, ” In questioning on Friday, that was the first time we found that this is a taxable benefit. That wasn’t clear to us before that.”
