On Parliament Hill
Feeding Politicians Should Never Be More Important Than Feeding The Hungry
On Friday February 26th, I was honoured to announce my Private Member’s Bill at the Helping Hands Food Bank in Steinbach. The name of my bill is The Fairness in Charitable Gifts Act (Bill C-239) and it is aimed at:
- Increasing the number of donors to registered charities;
- Empowering charities; and
- Leveling the playing field between donors to political parties and donors to charitable organizations.
How will this be achieved? With bill C-239, donors to registered charities would now receive the same tax credits that donors to political parties currently receive.
There is an imbalance in how different types of donations are treated in Canada. Many people don’t realize that Federal tax credits for political contributions far exceed federal tax credits for donations to all other charities. Donors to political parties enjoy much higher tax receipts for their donations than do donors to charities.
Canadian charities, both secular and faith-based, deliver critical social support services to communities across the country and are well equipped to provide meaningful support to Canadians in conjunction with government services.
With this bill, charitable organizations will be empowered to take on a greater role as a result of the additional donations generated from the new tax incentives.
Unfortunately, the average number of Canadians donating to charities has been on a long-term decline across the country. The percentage of tax filers claiming donations has fallen from almost 30% to just over 20% over the past 25 years. This is a very concerning trend.
According to Statistics Canada, in 2010, ten percent of donors accounted for 63 percent of all charitable donations in Canada. It’s obvious that a rebalancing is needed.
This bill will provide the largest incentive to the largest segments of the population – those who currently donate under $400 per year as well as those who currently do not donate at all.
How will this work? As an example, John, who lives in Manitoba, makes donations during the year to the registered charities of his choice totalling $400.
Under the current charitable tax credit system, John would receive a federal tax credit of $88.00 and a provincial tax credit of $56.40 for a total of $144.40. The actual cost of his donation is $255.60.
Under the Fairness in Charitable Gifts Act, John would receive a federal tax credit of $300 as well as the tax credit of $56.40 from the Province of Manitoba, for a total of $356.40 in total tax credits. The actual cost of John’s $400 donation would now be only $43.60.
The reason that I chose to announce this in our riding is that according to Statistics Canada, the gold standard for generosity in the country is indeed right here in Southeastern Manitoba. While the median dollar donation across the country has generally averaged between $250 to $350 per person, residents of Steinbach were the most generous with a median donation of $1,830.
Among smaller centres in Provencher, towns such as Blumenort, Kleefeld and Landmark led the way.
If you believe in a greater role for charities and would like to see charities on an equal playing field with political parties, I would encourage you to contact party leaders at:
Blog Extras
Coffee Break
