Madam, Speaker, it gives me pleasure to rise on behalf of my party to speak to Motion No. 318.
Under the current Liberal government in power personal income taxes are among the highest in the industrialized world. Quite frankly Canadian people are being taxed to death. Even on such things as individual charitable donations the Canadian public is not given a break. In the meantime the government has been cutting and slashing social investment grants and funding to charitable institutions to the extent that many have difficulty keeping their heads above water.
The wording of the motion before us is worth looking at. The motion calls for the government to bring in legislation making the tax deduction for contributions to charitable organization no less than the tax deduction for contributions to political parties. Presently, as has been stated by others this evening, if a donor contributes $100 to a political party he or she would receive a $75 federal tax credit. The same individual who contributes $100 to the cancer society would only receive a $17 federal tax credit. That is the problem that the motion is attempting to address.
The motion is cleverly worded, for the lack of a better expression. Motion No. 318 does not specifically recommend that the government should increase the tax credit for donations to charities from 17% to 75% although this would be an option. Rather, it allows the government to use its discretion to choose optimal tax credit rates.
This is a bit of a cop-out in terms of the motion before us. The motion is laudable and worth consideration, but it is obviously putting the onus back on the government. Any motion should clearly define exactly what it is going to do, for obvious reasons.
It is fashionable and almost honourable given the political atmosphere out there to attack politicians and political parties. We have a pretty good system of tax relief and tax credits for individuals who want to contribute to political parties. The $100 donation winds up giving a $75 tax credit. There is a lot of good in that.
Another side of the argument says that could be and possibly should be reduced. We do not want to fall into the same kind of political financing as has happened in the United States of America where $1 million campaigns are the order of the day and there is basically no limit on political financing. In this country it is possible for ordinary Canadians to get elected and to contribute to political parties. There is complete transparency in the process. I do not want to see that diminished in any way and that is part of the consideration this evening.
A speaker from my party debated this issue a few months back. However, one component we do not want to overlook in this equation is the clambering for special tax status if this change ever came about.
I think my Quebec colleague would agree with me. How many of us in this House of Commons regardless of political party have been approached by groups that want special tax status as a charitable donation. They want to be recognized as a charitable organization. The line up would be endless if we changed the system significantly. There would be so much clambering it would be unmanageable for the government.
There is a danger in a wholesale change of the system. That leads into the argument, and of course this was on debate today as well, about the Canadian tax system and the complexity of the Canadian tax code. If the Canadian tax code were laid here next to me, it would dwarf me. It is much taller than my six foot two inches.
Our Canadian tax code is overly complex. I do not think there is any one of us in this House that does not use the services of a professional accountant to do our income taxes at the end of the year. I certainly have been using one for years. Most of us do because of the complexity of it. It is one of those things we no longer want to do ourselves for obvious reasons. It goes right back to the word complexity.
This is interesting and quite humourous. It is an interesting reflection on the complexity of our tax code and why we are forced into hiring professionals to compile our taxes. I lent this line to the member for Kings—Hants who used it today in the House but I am taking credit for it as if I invented it. The complexity of the tax code forces us to use professionals to compile our taxes for us. They say that compiling our own tax returns is the only do it yourself project that could land us in jail if it is not done to perfection.
I do not think we want any more complexity in the tax code. I think we would like to see a levelling of the playing field in the sense of charitable donations versus political donations, but it has to be thought through.
The efforts of the member have to be commended. This goes beyond partisan politics. I do not think there is a member on either side of this House who thinks government can be the be all and end all, the sort of blanket approach to curing all the ills of society. We have to leave part of it up to charitable organizations in our hometowns, our churches, all the various organizations that do good across Canada each and every day. We do not want to see that end. We want to see that enhanced.
The value in this member's motion is that if charitable associations were given better tax treatment, the resources and the money these organizations would have to help our friends, neighbours and often ourselves through those charitable donations would most likely increase. That would be a good thing. It would take some of the onus off the government to do the very things that governments today are doing.
Some of the programs governments are engaged in from time to time in that blanket approach, and this government is no different, sometimes do not work. What is good for Newfoundland sometimes is not good for British Columbia. That is on any given day of the week. That happens. Quebec, Ontario or the rest of the country.
The organizations that deliver services best are usually the ones in our backyards. We have to do everything possible to enhance that type of giving and that type of ownership of our hometowns.
We commend the member. He is on the right track. I would like to see this idea carried forward and the government come up with legislation that would address this inequity in our tax system.
We are prepared to support the motion. The onus then goes back on the government to take this motion seriously and introduce tax law that would change the status quo.