Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to seek your input on the true cost of the capital gains tax exemption on gifts of publicly listed securities, as an example.
Department of Finance officials who met with the committee in the initial meeting indicated that they attribute a cost of $34 million, I believe, per year, and that is based on the assumption that the shares would have been disposed of in any case. When I asked them the question around their methodology, that if in fact there was no transaction, if in fact the owner of the bank shares that they had held onto for a long time did not sell them in order to make a contribution...that there would be no cost to the treasury. As such, I think it's possible that the cost the finance department is attributing to this may actually exceed the real cost to government.
This is important as we're discussing tax measures during tighter budget times. I'd really appreciate your views on this, because I have some concerns that we may be inflating the cost to the government through the tax expenditure approach. I'd appreciate your thoughts on that.