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

Some Canadians are seeing bigger government benefit deposits this week. Two income-tested benefits — the Advanced Canada Workers Benefit and the Ontario Trillium Benefit — increased starting with the July 2026 benefit year, thanks to the Canada Revenue Agency’s annual inflation adjustment. Quick Answer The CRA increased benefit and credit amounts by 2% for the […]

Six months after Washington became one of a handful of states to pay unemployment benefits to striking workers, the state has paid out nearly $506,000 to 138 people. The program, capped at six weeks per striker, is now facing its first real test as new strikes emerge across the state. What the Law Actually Does […]

Canadians Eligible for a New Government Benefit Worth Up to $1,826 a Year — First Payments Rolling Out A National Post report says eligible Canadians are set to receive their first payment from a government benefit worth up to $1,826 annually. The underlying article wasn’t accessible for this piece, so this article covers what’s confirmed […]

Oregon’s SNAP Error Rate Is High Enough to Trigger New Federal Penalties — Here’s What That Means Oregon is one of dozens of states facing a new federal rule that ties SNAP funding to payment accuracy. States with high error rates will eventually have to cover part of the cost of food benefits themselves, though […]

A Des Moines-area woman has reportedly been sentenced in connection with a scheme to fraudulently collect about $30,000 in unemployment benefits, according to WHO13.com. The original article could not be retrieved while writing this piece, so the details below are limited to what’s confirmed by the headline plus general information about how unemployment fraud cases […]

A green card holder identified as Karin Contreras, a national of the Dominican Republic, is accused of defrauding the U.S. unemployment benefits system out of roughly $1 million, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. Beyond that headline claim, few case details have been made public, so this article focuses on what’s confirmed and how cases […]

Michigan unemployment recipients now have to report three work-search activities every week instead of one, with the stricter requirement phasing in through late July. The change comes from a 2025 law that also raises the maximum weekly benefit from $530 to $614 and extends the maximum benefit period from 20 to 26 weeks. Source: Bridge […]

Michigan’s unemployment insurance law is changing, according to a report from The Detroit News, but the article’s full text was behind a paywall we couldn’t get past. Because of that, this piece sticks to general, publicly known background on how Michigan’s unemployment system works today rather than guessing at what specifically is changing — check […]

New unemployment claims fell to 208,000 for the week ending July 11, the lowest weekly total in 10 weeks, the U.S. Department of Labor reported. The decline came in well below economists’ forecast of 219,000 and adds to a run of historically low layoff numbers. Source: Breaking News, Latest News and Videos, as reported by […]

According to Reuters, new applications for unemployment benefits fell again last week, another sign that U.S. layoffs remain low and the broader labor market is holding steady. We were not able to pull the full article text for independent verification, so any specific figures should be checked against the original report or the Department of […]