Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I also would like to reiterate the thank you for the great work that your organizations do. I think every single community is much richer for these important organizations and how they contribute.
I've had people come into my office who have spoken very enthusiastically about the stretch tax credit, whether it be some of our artists or other groups. Then—I don't know if you read the notes from our last meeting on this particular issue—all of a sudden I had what felt like a bucket of cold water dumped, in terms of the stretch tax credit and where it might actually go, which was anywhere from some research indicating that the tax credits were marginal versus other research that said it really did change behaviour.
There was a certain caution that was put out there—that tax equity is an important principle for tax policy—because you would have different tax treatments for individuals who had made identical gifts in a particular year. There were also some concerns about people gaming the system, that it was complicated, and it would be open for gaming in terms of what happens.
It would be really beneficial for me to hear your response—again, I'm not sure you had the opportunity to actually read some of the comments made in that meeting—and for you to share your thoughts with me about what they expressed as concerns about a stretch tax policy.