Finance committee  Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee. I am representing Canadians for Tax Fairness. We're a new organization that is just one year old. We have begun a campaign for fair taxation. We support a tax system, based on the ability to pay, that will fund the

Finance committee  —we would not oppose changes to tax incentives to charities if these incentives do not cost too much or don't give greater benefit to high-income taxpayers. Therefore, the stretch proposal is not as problematic from our point of view.... However, eliminating capital gains on priv

Finance committee  Could you repeat that?

Finance committee  As I said, it's one of the most valuable roles that charities can play. Unfortunately, a very small percentage actually do play this role or take it seriously. One report I read said it was 1%. It may be a little higher than that, but it's a very small number who do this. It's t

Finance committee  Quebec doesn't differentiate between donations below and above $200, and it gives a straight 20% credit regardless of the amount of the donation. In our view, this would be preferable to the current system in the rest of Canada that only allocates 15% for donations under $200. T

Finance committee  I think that is a good question to investigate. I don't know what the impact would be. Low-income people do give a larger portion of their income than higher income people, and a large percentage of low-income people who give donations don't claim tax credits, so there is a probl

Finance committee  This is something that needs more debate, even amongst people on my board. But it is a real problem for government to be backing out of areas that they have traditionally assumed responsibility for.

Finance committee  It's true that they can often see needs that exist in a community, especially if they're locally based. Their role as being complementary to government is valuable and important. But it's problematic when you expect charities to take the place of...or to pick up the gaps, because

Finance committee  Yes. I used to work in the international development field, so I would agree with that.

Finance committee  I don't have an answer to that, but would just point out that even though it's sometimes assumed that charities can deliver programs more efficiently than government, that's not always the case, precisely because of the costs of fundraising. That is a big cost. It depends, and it

Finance committee  I don't think that what's being proposed is for corporations, but for individuals. In the case of corporations, I'm not sure about the rules that apply to them.

Finance committee  Corporate donations are actually not as large as donations from individuals. They get a lot of publicity, because usually when they give they ask that their name be prominently displayed.

Finance committee  So there is a perception that they give more than they really do. It is not as big an amount as one might think. I don't know the exact figures on it, but I don't think they can be.... One of the problems we have is that corporations and rich individuals tend to give to large o

Finance committee  So far more than 3,000 Canadians have signed on in support of our organization, and we're associated with other groups, provincial groups, that have also been campaigning on tax fairness issues since before we were established. Generally, they are Canadians who are concerned abou

Finance committee  We have donors and we have people who have just signed up in support—both.