Rethink this detrimental policy
Re: “Corporations win, nonprofits lose,” Gary Lamphier, April 14
As committed contributors to various charitable causes, we are perplexed that the recent provincial budget reduced the tax credit allowed for charitable donations.
The government says increasing corporate taxes would decrease corporate profitability, resulting in reduced investment, which in turn would result in a loss of jobs, all combining to place further stress on the economy and exacerbate the government’s revenue shortfall.
Apply that same logic to the tax credit situation: A reduction in tax credits effectively represents an increase in tax collected or, from the taxpayer’s perspective, a transfer from the charity to government. It would seem reasonable to conclude that this will result in decreased support for charities (decreased investment), leading to reduced services (likely including loss of jobs among support workers) and ultimately more stress on the economy and government resources as needs previously met through charitable organizations are handed back to the province, only exacerbating the revenue shortfall.
There appears to be a logical inconsistency. One might conclude that those typically served by charitable organizations are easier to ignore than corporate Alberta. Perhaps the government has concluded there is less danger in penalizing Albertans who “put their money where their social conscience is” than offending corporate Alberta.
We back charitable causes, including health care and educational institutions, because we believe that by doing so, we support programs which might well otherwise disappear in a culture of government downloading of responsibility. The cost to the government of our commitment is minimal compared with the alternative cost of providing the same services directly or the social cost of these services disappearing completely.
The government should reexamine a policy detrimental to Alberta society, particularly the most vulnerable within it. Morley and Val Blanch, Edmonton