AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
Press Release 1031
Canada Questioning Taxation Exemptions for ‘Religious Charities”
DOGS supports the principle of separation of Church and State, a principle which is fundamental to the well being of a public education system in a cohesive, democratic as opposed to an oligarchic, class ridden society.
The taxation exemptions enjoyed by the denominational, private sector schools in Australia, and elsewhere in the English speaking world, by virtue of the fact that they are ‘religious’ institutions and therefore ‘charitable’ in the legal but not the common parlance sense, is an on-going scandal.
As we enter 2025, confronted with the rise of powerful oligarchs in the Wester democracies, it is interesting to find our sister Commonwealth country, Canada, has been questioning this taxation anomaly.
Details are buried within hundreds of recommendations made in a Canadian Finance Committee report tabled in their House of Commons on Dec. 13, 2024, which is part of a consultation process before their next federal budget.
Recommendation 429 calls for the government to “no longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations” and Recommendation 430 wants to amend the Income Tax Act to “provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose,” stated the EFC.
Both recommendations are found in the report under Chapter Five, “A Competitive Fiscal Policy, Sustainable Finances and Efficient Government Operations.”
“Federal taxation plays a pivotal role in funding public expenditures and directing economic activity to sustain and enrich the Canadian economy,” states the chapter’s short preamble.
“Personal income tax is the largest source of government revenues in Canada, followed by corporate income tax. Tax policy is also a major mechanism to motivate taxpayers to engage in activities that are deemed beneficial to society or, on the contrary, dissuade taxpayers from engaging in activities that are thought to be harmful to society.”
The wording of the recommendations echoes the British Columbia Humanist Association’s written submission to the committee. (The consultation heard from many businesses, schools and non-profit organizations offering written submissions with differing interests.)
The evangelical churches in Canada are upset about these recommendations, and predictably are lobbying strongly against their implementation. See the
Christian Daily International, Friday, January 03, 2025
The finance minister is not obliged to adopt the recommendations for the spring budget, but the Evangelical churches remain concerned about the issue, calling the fact that a parliamentary committee involving all major political parties had called for such changes “significant” and indicative that the parties supported the ideas.
The Canadian Parliament has many more pressing matters on their hands at the moment with President Trump’s proposals for their future and the resignation of President Trudeau, but the underlying concern about the taxation treatment of religious charities is an ongoing concern as the rich get richer and the poor…
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