Finance committee  He has that income. He has other sources of income. This is his personal situation, and not that I know all the details, but it's our understanding he has sources of income such that those are already taxed, and therefore this will be added on top of that.

Finance committee  Again, as Mr. Kirk mentioned earlier, the CRA would provide guidance on what that means. The situation we are contemplating is the earthquake that happened in Christ Church, New Zealand, where you have agencies on the ground that are involved in humanitarian disaster relief or something to that effect—that kind of entity, essentially, where Canadians felt that they really wanted to give to organizations like that, and that they were involved in that kind of activity.

Finance committee  The way the tax system works is that different sources of income are combined such that your total income is taxed according to the rate schedule. So the Governor General has income that already takes him up to the top marginal rate, such that his existing sources of income are taxed through the rate schedule.

Finance committee  As I think the Minister of Finance said yesterday, there are streamlined processes that are available to allow the ease of another individual to become a plan holder for an RDSP and that are less cumbersome than processes that exist in certain provinces. He has asked all the provinces to provide him information on the processes that are in place in certain provinces.

Finance committee  An RDSP must be established only to be for the benefit of the beneficiary. So RDSP issuers, which are in general the major financial institutions, do what they can to ensure that when withdrawals are made from an RDSP, the payments go only to the beneficiary or in respect of their legal representative.

Finance committee  That's the taxes in his hands as an individual.

Finance committee  The Income Tax Act currently only exempts income from the Office of the Governor General. Therefore any of his other income, personal income from pensions or investments, is not exempt from tax. So he already pays tax on whatever other types of income he has.

Finance committee  The salary for 2013 is set such that his net compensation from the Office of the Governor General remains unchanged. So currently he receives a salary that is not taxed, and then as a result of this bill he would receive a higher salary that would be taxable. And we estimated that because he would pay a certain amount of tax on that income, his salary should be set at the level in the bill, such that his net compensation is unchanged.

Finance committee  Fair enough. One of the purposes of having charities provide information and making it available on CRA's website is so Canadians who are donating to those charities can have information about their activities. How much do they spend on fundraising and certain administrative expenses?

Finance committee  There was a question, and the responses are being prepared. The Governor General's pension will not be changed. The calculation of the pension—

Finance committee  The amount of the pension will not be changed at all by—

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  There's a second part to that.

Finance committee  When New Zealand and Australia changed their law such that the salary of their Governors General became taxable, they essentially just increased the level to offset the fact that it was grossed up. They have different traditions in terms of how they set the salary of the Governor General.

Finance committee  I believe those are the words in section 6 of the act. That section is not changing.