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| Helping Canadians to give more |
| Marketplace |
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Written by Dave Quist, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada 29 to 42. No, those aren’t the words to the latest rap song. It’s a recommendation by the Hamilton-based think tank Cardus to the federal minister of finance to increase the federal charitable tax credit from 29 to 42 per cent. This means Canadians donating to charity would get a higher tax refund for every donation they make. Why is this important? The answer has several components. Among them are Canada’s shifting demographics and creating non-governmental capacity to address social needs and giving patterns after that shift occurs. In the next 20 to 30 years Canada’s demographics will shift as never seen before. Some of the Baby Boomers are now entering retirement, with a significant bulge still to come. This trend has strong implications for the number of people in the workforce, taxes paid and the number of volunteer hours given to charitable organizations. Research from Statistics Canada shows that “[a]s a whole, [the civic] core consists of 28 per cent of Canadian adults aged 15 and older [who] account for 83 per cent of total volunteer hours, 77 per cent of total charitable dollars donated, and 69 per cent of civic participation.” A large part of this “civic core” falls within the Baby Boomers demographic. Naturally, as this group ages, they will have fewer disposable dollars available and they will be less able, physically, to donate their time. Unfortunately, one of the effects of this demographic shift is the waning of charitable giving. With a few exceptions, the average number of charitable households and annual giving has been decreasing. The intent of proposals to increase the tax credit is to bolster charitable giving. Government is not the most effective or efficient mode of providing many social services in our communities. All across Canada there are great examples of community, charitable and faith-based groups that provide excellent services with little or no government support:
With charitable giving decreasing, demographics shifting, and greater efficiencies to be found in the “third or volunteer sector,” changes to our tax policy such as the 29to42 initiative are worthy of strong consideration. |
