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Name: Gita Dasour
Employment status: Stay-at-home mother
What's in the budget for me: "I'm very upset. I was looking for something for the children, some kind of affordable daycare, like in Quebec." Gita Dasour, of Rexdale, wants more help for families, particularly affordable child-care and medical treatment, and an increased child benefit.
"(The extra money) would really help. Kids need to be in activities, not at home. They learn more with other children." Dasour, 42, had hoped the budget would help her get outside care for the girls, 6 and 4, freeing her to update her skills and look for a job.
A former dental hygienist, Dasour stopped working in 2001 to undergo fertility treatments, and has been home ever since. Her husband, Vijay Dasour, works 24-hour shifts driving a taxi at Pearson International Airport, leaving her to mind the household. The family lives on about $33,000 per year.
Even the increased child benefit, set to reach a maximum of $1,100 annually for each child, won't suffice, especially once the harmonized tax takes effect, Dasour says.
The family is one of roughly 465,000 throughout the province receiving the benefit, previously capped at $600 annually, per child. "They're raising money on one side, but taxing us on the other," Dasour said. Children's clothing may be exempt from the tax increase, but food and medicine will cost significantly more, she added.
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- reprinted from the Toronto Star