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I am wondering if anyone has received their school tax rebate this year? We haven't received anything, no form to fill out. I thought it was because we have not paid our tax bill yet but our friend paid his bill back in May and he has received nothing at all?  
 
Anyone know what's going on? thanks!

This is from the gov.mb.ca web site:  
 
Seniors' School Tax Rebate  
 
The 2016 Rebate will be claimed when you file your 2016 income tax return in the spring of 2017. This means that a separate application for the Rebate is no longer necessary. It also means that in future years, you will be able to make retroactive claims for up to three years, but no further back than the 2016 Rebate.

seniors will no longer get a cheque back like the previous 2 years?

That's the way I read it.

Johnbisonbear said "seniors will no longer get a cheque back like the previous 2 years? "

do you still like the shuffle Pallister is doing?? - especially relating to the "most Vulnerable" members of society that he led us to believe he would be helping???? . . . interesting

Should be no seniors "school tax credit"! All of society benefits from a healthy education system as the children are the "entrepreneurs" and workforce of the future that will pay taxes to support our hospitals in which seniors frequent more often than 40 somethings and also tend to go to nursing homes which are further more funded by taxpayers, much of it from middle income earners. I would also add that school budgets should be funded by the provincial gvnt through income and business taxes and not municipal taxes. If the school taxes must remain as is and added to your property taxes then the whole plan should be revised. First, as a homeowner, senior or not, your property taxes should be fixed ( or very close) to whatever the CPI ( Consumer price index) is. I think the government uses CPI to set yearly pension increases, same should be for taxes. Only when a house is sold should it be re-assessed and taxes adjusted for the new owners. It makes no sense to increase property taxes at a higher rate than what seniors are forced to accept as pension increases. The present system unfortunately sees seniors often having to give up their homes as theycan''t afford the taxes anymore. The real problem gvnt should address is the annual assessments that needs to change if we want to keep seniors in their homes as long as possible. But, this may not work as municipalities and schools would have to be more responsible in the way they allocate funds. Both Schools and Towns/Cities like he current annual assessments as they can always tinker with the mill rate as they see fit. The current municipal and school taxation system is ridiculous and holds nobody accountable on how much they spend. I, for one would feel so much better if they could keep their annual spending increases tied to the CPI or at least close.  
 
Edited by 70`s guy, 2016-06-25 15:03:49

whatthewhat said "    Johnbisonbear said "seniors will no longer get a cheque back like the previous 2 years? " do you still like the shuffle Pallister is doing?? - especially relating to the "most Vulnerable" members of society that he led us to believe he would be helping???? . . . interesting "

I certainly don't consider my family member as one of the 'most vulnerable'. Plus some people I know of personally were getting a cheque that were well off financially and were having a laugh at 'getting their cheque'.  
 
I voted for change, the previous government had a serious spending problem that needed reining in.

there should be no reason school tax is placed on a home, if income tax can pay for health care why not a school system, when retirement comes income goes down and so do the taxes no need for a seniors rebate, as it is now taxes are applied to how people want to live,invest in a home pay school tax,live in a apartment pay no tax, landlord does, live in a mobile park pay less tax,if I and 10 others make the same money and some live in houses others in mobile homes,apartments or a couple families to a house we all pay different school tax, but basically the same income tax that runs the country. doesn't seem like a fair tax system and does force people from their homes

I think school taxes are attached to properties because of school divisions. The homes that actually sit in the catchment for a particular school division, in theory, fund that division. That would be harder to do if it came from general income tax.  
 
Income tax can fund health care, for example, because you're entitled to care no matter where you live in Canada (more or less, I know there are jurisdictional rules). In Winnipeg, for example, if you live at 123 Any Street, you can attend any hospital in the city (or in the province, for that matter), yet you're only entitled to attend school in your division.  
 
That's probably why school taxes got tied to property taxes to being with: because your physical location determines what division you belong to, ergo your taxes should fund that division. You can argue that it's "not fair" because people may pay disprotionally more or less taxes then their neighbour based on percentage of income, but really most incomes in any given neighbourhood should be relatively equal as they would share a similar socio-economic status based on the characteristics of that neighbourhood. Now, whether or not that actually happens is another story, but on paper it works.

The majority of revenue for the Brandon School Division comes from income tax, Provincial, not property tax, Municipal, as some might think. https://www.bsd.ca/board/budgetfinance/Documents/Part%20B.pdf Repealing the seniors school tax rebate is the right and equitable thing to do.

Johnbisonbear said "    whatthewhat said "    Johnbisonbear said "seniors will no longer get a cheque back like the previous 2 years? " do you still like the shuffle Pallister is doing?? - especially relating to the "most Vulnerable" members of society that he led us to believe he would be helping???? . . . interesting " I certainly don't consider my family member as one of the 'most vulnerable'. Plus some people I know of personally were getting a cheque that were well off financially and were having a laugh at 'getting their cheque'.     I voted for change, the previous government had a serious spending problem that needed reining in. "

I know you did -  
 
but not all Seniors are finding themselves in the same position as some of our friends - I too have many friends who don't need these rebates - but still, I am looking out for those Seniors - as someone needs to remember them too.  
 
Thanks for being kind to me today by the way.

whatthewhat said "    Johnbisonbear said "    whatthewhat said "    Johnbisonbear said "seniors will no longer get a cheque back like the previous 2 years? " do you still like the shuffle Pallister is doing?? - especially relating to the "most Vulnerable" members of society that he led us to believe he would be helping???? . . . interesting " I certainly don't consider my family member as one of the 'most vulnerable'. Plus some people I know of personally were getting a cheque that were well off financially and were having a laugh at 'getting their cheque'.     I voted for change, the previous government had a serious spending problem that needed reining in. " I know you did -     but not all Seniors are finding themselves in the same position as some of our friends - I too have many friends who don't need these rebates - but still, I am looking out for those Seniors - as someone needs to remember them too.     Thanks for being kind to me today by the way. "

how was I kind to you?

do think that incomes vary a fair bit in the Brandon School division, so income being close to each other per division, I would think not