Finance committee  I think it might be a by-product of that. I respect Mr. Burrows' comment that probably a lot of people who are making $10 donations to a child's Jump Rope For Heart are not thinking about the tax benefit. I think there could be a small by-product, but I would argue that the main

Finance committee  Yes. What I'm getting at, focusing on some studies and some other comments that have been made in prior committees, is that tax incentives do provide some incentive to donate more. But I would focus more on the other benefits of eliminating the $200 distinction, most notably the

Finance committee  I'm sorry, I was having trouble hearing you.

Finance committee  To some degree we have that already in the tax system with the ability to combine your credits with your spouse, and that tax credit could be taken by either spouse. Typically it would be the spouse who is paying the higher tax bill, although in a lot of cases it won't matter. If

Finance committee  We didn't comment on that directly. I'm certainly aware of the stretched tax credit. We were proposing, I guess, a simpler measure in terms of eliminating the discrepancy between $200 and amounts above that. I'm certainly a proponent of anything that would increase the amount of

Finance committee  Mr. Johnson is certainly affiliated with our bank. The comments he was making in that regard were from his personal perspective. That said, again I'm very much a proponent of anything that would seek to increase the amount of charitable giving happening right now in Canada. Certa

Finance committee  Yes. There are obviously some practical implications there, particularly around evaluation--

Finance committee  I know he's suggested some ways of dealing with those practical implications, but I think that would need to be worked out.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question, Mrs. McLeod. I hadn't specifically thought about that. I think my focus for today's discussion was more on individuals and on encouraging individual donations. As you are probably aware, the incentives that exist for corporations are very similar to

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of the BMO Financial Group, I'm pleased to join my colleagues here this afternoon to discuss the topic of tax incentives for charitable giving. I come to the table this afternoon from two perspectives. One of them comes from working for a com