The federal Conservatives will make good on their three-year-old election promise to double the children’s fitness tax credit starting this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Thursday.
It will allow parents to claim a tax credit for up to $1,000 in fees they pay to register their child, under 16 years of age, for a program of eligible physical activities, such as hockey or sailing.
“These activities are good for our children, they are good for our communities,” Harper said from the Abilities Centre in Whitby, Ont., a facility the late finance minister Jim Flaherty helped establish.
“And our view is that whatever is good for our children and good for our communities is good for Canada.”
Parents can claim the credit starting next year when they file their tax returns for 2014, he said. It will become a refundable credit in the following 2015 tax year so lower-income families that pay little to no income tax will still be able to receive a government cheque to help pay for the activities.
The government said it currently provides about $115 million per year in tax relief to 1.4 million families.
It’s among a number of campaign promises the Tories made in the 2011 election campaign that were contingent on balancing the books, which also included a pricey and controversial plan to allow income splitting for tax purposes by couples with children under 18.
They also promised to double the annual contribution limit to Tax Free Savings Accounts to a maximum of $10,000 and implement a new adult fitness tax credit.
Harper announced last week that the federal deficit in the past fiscal year would be $5.2 billion, a fraction of the $16.6 billion forecast, but insisted there won’t be a surplus until the 2015-16 election year.
Before Harper’s announcement, economists and budget watchers, including the independent Parliamentary Budget Office, had calculated Ottawa may already be en route to a surplus this fiscal year, which ends next March 31.