These much-needed reforms may mean that there will be more dollars in the hands of single parents and their children, and that awards will be determined in a more consistent manner. It was designed to assist these families to meet the additional costs associated with working such as transportation and child care, and to offset the loss of in-kind benefits available to families on social assistance. Neither the CTB nor the WIS is fully indexed. Because inflation has remained below that level, there has never been an increase. The Child Tax Benefit could be an important bulwark against the devastating impact of child poverty, but the value of the benefit has steadily eroded over the past decade because it is only partially indexed to inflation.
Inflation also pushes up the nominal value of families' incomes.
Many more families are being pushed above the income threshold each year for receiving the child tax benefit, even though the real value of their income has not increased. The CCSD endorses the government's initiative to fully index the new Senior's Benefit to the rate of inflation. The CCSD strongly recommends that the government demonstrate a similar level of commitment to children in poor and modest income families. Any increase in the value of child benefits is a positive gesture toward reducing children's poverty. However, by the government's own estimates, only 250,000 children will receive the full benefit and another 450,000 will receive partial benefits.