Manitobans who rent their homes may soon get government cheques in the mail instead of a credit on their annual income tax returns.

The government is planning to change its Renters Affordability Tax Credit and pay it out in cheques every three months.

“So rather than waiting for tax time to get a refund … we’re just going to send it out to you so you have cash in hand a few times throughout the year, closer to when the actual rent bill is due,” Premier Wab Kinew said Friday.

The tax credit is currently worth up to $625 a year and a bill now before the legislature would boost it to $675. There is an additional top-up for seniors based on income.

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Kinew acknowledged there are logistics to work out and overhead costs with sending cheques in the mail to renters across the province.

An official with the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, a poverty and justice advocacy group, said the switch to cheques sounds like a good way to get money to people sooner.

“Without having any details, it does sound like a positive step for a number of people,” executive director Kate Kehler said.

Kinew said there are no plans to politicize the cheques, and referenced a recent announcement by the United States government to issue a limited number of new passports featuring the face of President Donald Trump.

“There’s no plans right now to put my face on the cheque, to put my signature in there. This is not the Trump passport,” Kinew said.

When he was Opposition leader in 2020, Kinew criticized the Progressive Conservative government of the day for saying it would send cheques to seniors during the COVID-19 pandemic that would come with a note from then-premier Brian Pallister.

Cheques mailed to individuals in some other provinces have also stirred up controversy.

In 2013, Nova Scotia’s then-premier Darrell Dexter faced accusations of campaigning on the taxpayers’ dime when he wrote a note that accompanied rebate cheques to low-income seniors.

In 2006, the Alberta government under premier Ralph Klein issued $400 cheques to all residents as a prosperity dividend from high oil prices and a large budget surplus. They were nicknamed Ralph bucks.

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