Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Canadian Council of Christian Charities, which I'll refer to hereafter as CCCC, is a member-based association of more than 3,200 faith-based charities across the country.
We maintain two key functions. First, we provide practical, expert resources for the support and leadership functions of these charities. The second key function is our charity certification program. Since 1983, CCCC has conferred a seal of accountability on charities that have met our standards.
CCCC is pleased with the willingness of this committee to review tax incentives for charitable donations. We have canvassed our members to determine what their concerns and hopes are for this initiative. That's what I'm doing here today. We'll present some of those concerns.
Members of CCCC bring not only an altruistic impetus to do good, but a deep spiritual motivation to be, as it were, our brother’s keeper. Our members tell us that the younger generation do not give as their parents once gave. When they do give, it is often with conditions that it be spent on specific programs. We see a movement away from a large donor base giving small amounts to a smaller and aging donor base giving larger amounts.
Churches have expressed a desire to be involved in social enterprise endeavours but are concerned for their charitable status with Canada Revenue Agency, the CRA. Government policy, of course, will need to become more flexible for such creativity to take wing and bring solutions.
When it comes to accountability, our members operate in what I would call a culture of frugality. They know what it is to work within a limited budget. That culture of frugality can provide confidence that incentives to encourage further giving will not be taken for granted. Nevertheless, we recognize the fraudulent soul of man, as it were, and the need for accountability. Audits and other tests of integrity remain a necessity, and the Canadian public has every right to insist on the highest standards.
We bring six recommendations to the standing committee.
First, we recommend that the current tax treatment for donations of publicly listed charities be extended to donations of real estate.
Second, we recommend that the charitable tax credit for individuals increase from 29% to 42% on all charitable donations. We're of the view that this measure would work to increase support from core existing donors. It is a straightforward adjustment that will stimulate and foster a healthy civic core of generosity.
Our third recommendation has to do with publicly listed securities. It is that donations of publicly listed securities eligible for the capital gains exemption should be given a charitable tax credit of 42% on the adjusted cost base and continue with the existing charitable tax credit of 29% on the capital gain.
Our fourth recommendation came up in our request of our membership when informing them that we were going to be here before this committee. Some of them noted that there was a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of red tape, when it came to the churches being involved in overseas work. One of the ideas that has come out of our initial discussions with our membership is to look at the whole issue of the need for agency or joint ministry agreements for any amount that goes overseas. That, they feel, is problematic because it increases bureaucratic red tape and because of the need for greater efficiency. So we're recommending that the committee consider looking at some kind of threshold whereby charities could be involved in overseas work with a limited amount of paperwork. We're suggesting 1% of the annual revenue of the charity.
Our fifth recommendation is to extend the five-year carry-forward rule to seven years or more.
Our final recommendation is that we are supportive of further dialogue between the government and the charitable sector about charity involvement in for-profit social enterprise. We recognize that it is complex, given the sector’s diversity and the multiplicity of options, but we would certainly be supportive of the idea of more careful study about what can and cannot be achieved through reviewing this government policy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.