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Guaranteed Income Supplement
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
Spelling variants:GIS, guaranteed income supplement
n. — Administration
a monthly benefit for low-income Old Age Security recipients who live in Canada.
Type: 1. Origin — The Canadian government introduced the GIS in the late 1960s to reduce poverty among seniors (see, e.g. the 1967 and 2002 quotations). It guarantees a minimum benchmark for the income of seniors and is paid in addition to any Old Age Security. The term is almost exclusively used in Canada (see Chart 1).
See COD-2, which labels the term "Cdn".
See COD-2, which labels the term "Cdn".
Often abbreviated to GIS.
Quotations
1967
The new guaranteed income supplement is a monthly payment of $30 which will be added to the present $75 Old Age Security Pension if the pensioner has no other income.
1977
Replying to Eymard Corbin (L, Madawaska) the minister said a decrease of $72-million in guaranteed income supplements given to the old and needy didn't necessarily mean that senior citizens are better off than before.
1987
"Far too many Canadians qualify for the guaranteed income supplement - that is, they are not financially secure," said Terence Stone, president of Bolton Tremblay Funds Inc. in Toronto.
2000
Public pension plans (Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans) made a big contribution to seniors' incomes during the 1980s and early 1990s.
2002
The country that reduced poverty among seniors by introducing the Guaranteed Income Supplement in the 1960s knows that a concerted effort can produce results.
2008
Their low incomes mean that tax deductibility of contributions has little value and, if they anticipate drawing Guaranteed Income Supplement benefits in old age, should worry that RRSP withdrawals would count against those GIS benefits.
References
- COD-2
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