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By Michael J. Wiener,
An organization called Generation Squeeze is calling for big cuts to Old Age Security (OAS). For some reason, these cuts are aimed exclusively at senior couples. Digging into the numbers, the proposal makes no sense.
The stated goal of the proposed OAS changes is to free up government money for other priorities. Whether or not OAS is the right target for reducing government spending is a different discussion. The puzzling part of this proposal is having all the cuts apply to senior couples.
Currently, OAS will get clawed back from any senior whose 2025 net income (Line 23400 of the tax return) is over $93,454. For each dollar over this income threshold, OAS payments are reduced by 15 cents. The current rules make no distinction between singles and couples. The calculation is based on each person’s own income without regard to whether they have a spouse.
It’s more expensive for two people to live than just one
Generation Squeeze wants to change the threshold to $100,000 for total household income. So, single seniors would lose nothing, and senior couples would eat all of the cuts. The problem here is that it is more expensive for two people to live than just one. The figure actuaries use is that it costs about 40% more for two people in the same home to live than it costs for one person.
Based on this 40% figure, if the OAS income clawback threshold for a single senior is $100,000, then it should be about $140,000 for a senior couple. Some might argue that we should encourage seniors to live together and help each other, and that the senior couple threshold should be double that of a single senior, as it is now. However, that’s a different discussion. There are sensible arguments for the couple threshold to be somewhere between 1.4 and two times the single threshold. But there is no sensible argument for making the two thresholds equal.
No doubt Generation Squeeze is getting support for this proposal from people who would not be affected. This group includes younger people, single seniors, and senior couples whose incomes are high enough that OAS is already being fully clawed back. Less affluent senior couples would not be as supportive.
Michael J. Wiener runs the web site Michael James on Money, where he looks for the right answers to personal finance and investing questions. He’s retired from work as a “math guy in high tech” and has been running his website since 2007. He’s a former mutual fund investor, former stock picker, now index investor. This blog originally appeared on his site on May 14, 2026 and is republished here with his permission.
