Last Wednesday was a special day at the Robinson household. Two $200 rebate cheques for the family arrived in the mail. And contrary to the protestations of various poverty activists, I didn't feel guilty about cashing my cheque at all and spending it on my family. Why would I It was my money to begin with, not the government's.

Just to recap, in last May's budget Finance Minister Ernie Eves announced plans to return $1 billion dollars of the surplus back to 5.2 million Ontario taxpayers in the form of rebate cheques ranging from $25 to $200 depending on the amount of tax paid in 1999. This "Ontario Taxpayer Divided" has been showing up in mailboxes across the province over the past 10 days.

To be fair, not everyone is sharing in this dividend, although rebate is the more honest and correct term to be employed. And more importantly, not everyone in Ontario is sharing in the prosperity as a result of the economic boom the province is presently experiencing. We still have many homeless people in our major cities and still too many Ontarians are struggling to make ends meet on a weekly basis.

So if you have given or feel obliged to sign over some or all of your rebate to a local charity, food bank, or homeless shelter, good for you. Indeed, this is what Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty is urging Ontarians to do. Of course, at $120,000 a year as Leader of the Opposition, parting with .00167% or your salary isn't much of a challenge.

However for Ontarians, like single parents earning $30,000, giving to charity may not be in the cards. Indeed, for many middle income Ontarians, $200 will go a long way to buying a winter coat or two for the kids, paying down the family Visa bill or just treating the family to a Friday night out at the movies with money left over on Saturday for some groceries.

Contrary to the badgering of Mr. McGuinty and NDP Leader Howard Hampton (some NDP ridings are encouraging people to donate to the NDP, how crass!), you have no need to feel guilty for keeping this money for you and your family. Again, it has always been your money.

Moreover, many of you can be justifiably proud of the work you already do for charity and donations you make to various telethons. Or the volunteer work you do in the local hockey association.

Your compassion is already well evidenced and as any respectable charity will tell you, guilting people into donating money or time is a short-term strategy. It does not allow for long-term donor cultivation.

The other interesting component of this "rebate" is the calculation of your five-year tax cut under the Harris government. Consider the following two taxpayers (A and B).



Taxpayer A would have paid $7,980 in 1999 if taxes were not cut over the past five years. A's tax savings in five years are now 24.3%



Taxpayer B would have paid $2,424 in 1999 if taxes were not cut over the past five years. B's tax savings in five years are now 31.9%. So lower income Ontarians have benefited in proportional terms, much more than higher income earners.

Finally, and just for the record here's how my $200 was disbursed: groceries $60; gas $42; toys $18; haircut $15; cheap belt $15 and the last $50 went to the cancer centre foundation.