Benefits, tax refunds, and the policy news that affects your wallet

Canadians receiving government benefits are getting a bigger deposit this August. Multiple federal and provincial payments — from child benefits to pensions to disability supports — increased starting in July 2026 under the Canada Revenue Agency’s annual indexation adjustment, and several of them land in bank accounts throughout August. The Short Answer Eligible Canadians can […]

Quick answer: Internal Treasury emails obtained by ABC News show it was then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s idea to put “President Donald J. Trump” on the memo line of the 2020 stimulus checks, finalized in a scramble just days before payments went out. Draft versions that never made it to the final design also included Mnuchin’s […]

Starting in fiscal year 2028, states with high SNAP payment error rates will have to start covering part of their food assistance benefit costs for the first time in the program’s 50-plus-year history. According to Brookings’ analysis of USDA’s newly released FY2025 error rate data, 35 states will owe between 5% and 15% of SNAP […]

The Wisconsin Senate voted down an $1.8 billion package late Wednesday that would have sent $300 stimulus checks to residents and increased school funding, after all 15 Senate Democrats and three Republican senators voted against it. The deal, backed by Gov. Tony Evers and GOP legislative leaders, had already passed the Assembly and the Joint […]

A new working paper from researchers at Duke University, the U.S. Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the University of Chicago finds that COVID-era stimulus checks and Child Tax Credit payments explain less than 20% of the price increases seen in the auto market between 2020 and 2022. That challenges the popular narrative that pandemic […]

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) did not rule out the idea of another round of stimulus checks when asked about ongoing economic strain on households, according to a report from WFLA. No bill, dollar figure, or timeline has been confirmed by his office or by Congress, so anything more specific than that should be treated as […]

Missouri Could Owe $150 Million for SNAP Errors Starting in 2027 — Here’s Why Missouri will have to cover 10% of its federal food-assistance costs — roughly $150 million — starting in 2027 unless it lowers its SNAP payment error rate below 6%. The state’s error rate has been improving, but it’s still well above […]

Quick answer: Axios has reported that striking hotel workers in Seattle are applying for unemployment benefits — something that’s only possible because Washington is one of the few states that lets workers on strike collect unemployment after being off the job for a period of time. The report does not specify which hotels or union […]

Quick answer: Starting this month, the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) pays up to $8,157 per child under age 6 and up to $6,883 per child aged 6 to 17 for the 2026-27 benefit year — an increase of up to $160 and $135 per child, respectively. In New Brunswick alone, the higher payments reach roughly […]

Unemployment insurance is designed to protect workers, but it also creates real, ongoing obligations for employers — from payroll taxes to a rising tax rate every time a former employee successfully claims benefits. Here’s how the system actually affects a business, from the taxes that fund it to what happens when a claim lands on […]