Speaking in Calgary on April 21, Premier Jim Prentice announced the Province will no longer lower the charitable tax credit from 21 per cent to 12.75 per cent for donations in excess of $200 beginning in 2016, as originally announced when the budget came down on March 26.
“I’ve said during this campaign that leadership is about difficult and sometimes unpopular choices but hearing from Albertans during this campaign, it’s become clear that this choice was more than simply unpopular,” Prentice said.
When details of the budget were initially announced by Finance Minister Robin Campbell, a number of those working in the charitable sector said they were dismayed to see the tax credit cut.
Lori McRitchie, executive director of the Airdrie Food Bank, said on March 27 the cut would have a negative impact on the non-profit.
“We’re dealing with a huge increase (in people turning to the food bank) because of the current (economic) situation and our support’s being pulled out from under us,” she said.
“This is cutting the initiative to give. I think it’s going to have a huge impact.”
Reached on April 23, McRitchie said she was pleased the Province had reconsidered.
“I think it was a wise move and it creates some comfort in my mind,” she said. “It makes me breathe a little bit easier knowing people still have an incentive to give to not-for-profits.”
Albertans 4 Giving, a grassroots organization started after the budget was announced to raise awareness about the lowering of the charitable tax credit, collected more than 4,000 signatures on an online petition. The petition was launched on April 6, one day before the Progressive Conservative majority government called a May 5 election.
“We saw that proportionally the people that give to charity were given the highest tax increase by Budget 2015,” said Spokesman Brad Tennant.
“We didn’t really see any kind of public pressure on the government in response to this, which we felt was pretty senseless, considering all the charities and non-profits that there are in this province,” Tennant added. “This is a cut that will affect so many organizations, so we decided to do something about it ourselves.”
Together with a small group of friends, Tennant purchased a domain name and created a website to educate the public about the cut to the tax credit, and encourage them to sign a petition opposing it.
Tennant said he thought the existence of the online petition played a part in the government’s about-face.
“One hundred per cent (the petition helped). We reached out to charities, non-profits, faith groups and stuff like that, and we were talking to these people and telling them to approach their candidates and ask them about (lowering the charitable tax credit),” he said.
“It wasn’t about a big organization pushing – it was a bunch of individuals pushing - but I think the petition helped arm those individuals, helped identify them and helped educate them, and then those individuals made the reversal happen.”
“It feels awesome that we got it done so quickly,” Tennant added.
“But really, I think all I did was help facilitate Albertans’ own voice on this, because I think it’s something that means a lot to all of the people of this province. Alberta donates more than any other province, and to have that tax increase hit us this way was kind of crazy.”
The lowering of the charitable tax credit was expected to save the government $90 million annually, a number Prentice said would be made up elsewhere in the budget.
