Post-Doctorates: Grad Students and Post Docs ask the Federal government to
act quickly

OTTAWA, Nov. 16 /CNW/ - Representatives of Canada's postdoctoral fellows and graduate student associations are asking the federal government to reconsider its policy of taxing postdoctoral fellowships - specifically the retroactive taxation of postdoctoral fellowships back to 2006.

The federal government decided, in Budget 2010, that all postdoctoral fellowships will now be recognized as a taxable income. "The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) keeps threatening the possibility of applying the measure retroactively to 2006. We have already heard about cases where this seems to be happening. This will be disastrous for postdocs who will be obliged to pay taxes, plus interest, on money they believed was tax-free and already spent", said Laurent Viau, President of the National Council of Graduate Students of Québec (CNCS) of the Quebec Federation of University Students (FEUQ). Postdoctoral fellows and graduate students are asking the federal government to grandfather the tax exemption that previously applied, up to the budget announcement in March 2010, so that only those fellowships granted afterwards are subject to the taxation.

Very few postdoctoral grants are of high amounts like the government's new Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships. On average, postdoctoral salaries are lower than the scholarships awarded to PhD students which are exempt from taxes. The taxation of postdoctoral scholarships during the last federal budget broke the normal gradation of incomes between doctoral students, postdocs and university professors starting their career. "We have to be consistent with the amounts that are given at other levels. Academic units responsible for these researchers will need to compensate with their own limited research budgets. Overall, that is less money for research efforts and training " said Eric Snow, Chair of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) Graduate Students' Committee. 

Taxable grants will barely meet the individual needs of postdocs. "These are specialized individuals who decided to perfect their training in a university environment. Universities greatly need the expertise of these researchers and we cannot ask them to continue their research for such low incomes", noted Dr. Angela M. Crawley, co-chairperson of the Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars (CAPS). After so many years of study, the financial cost of this opportunity is not a strong incentive. These researchers often have heavy debts to repay, more than 81% of them are over 30 years of age, and one-third of them have children.

The federal government wants Canada to be internationally competitive in the area of postdoctoral fellows, which is why it created the Banting Fellowships. To do attract the best researchers from around the world it needs to ensure the incomes of postdoctoral researchers are competitive internationally. The $70,000 Banting Fellowships is for only 2% of postdocs in Canada. The majority of postdocs are earning less than $38,000 before taxes and cannot afford to pay back taxes that were never expected of them in the first place.

For more than 20 years, the FEUQ has been representing Quebec university students. With 15 member associations and more than 125,000 members, the FEUQ is the largest youth group in Quebec. Within the Federation, the CNCS-FEUQ represents more than 30,000 graduate students from Quebec universities. www.feuq.qc.ca

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations is a national student organization representing 320,000 students at 26 member schools from coast-to-coast.

CAPS seeks to provide a means of expression for the needs and concerns of postdoctoral scholars at national, provincial and local levels. Linking with existing institutional postdoctoral associations, or individuals at institutions lacking local representation facilitates this process. CAPS works to promote best practice policies for postdoctoral training and environments across Canada.

For further information:

Media Contact:

Mathieu Le Blanc, FEUQ press attaché, office: [phone], Cell: [phone] [email protected]

Zach Dayler, National Director, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), cell: 613-266-2272, [email protected]

Dr. Angela M. Crawley (Interim Co-chair, Canadian Association of Postdoctoral Scholars, CAPS), work: 613-737-8673, cell: 613-218-9255, [email protected]