They should adopt what they do at the PNE.. Take a percentage of the vendors sales. Maybe they’ll be able to recoup their previous losses

First off get rid of all of these permissive tax exemptions..second start collecting taxes etc from any religious owned property ( unless they are in this geoup) believe what you want..but why should my taxes increase to pay for your faith.

These tax exemptions are red herrings dragged across the pathway to confuse people and focus their attention in the wrong direction. Some tax exemptions are valid, some are not.

The real issue is the amount of tax we pay, and where the money is spent.

The number one culprits are.

Protective Services 41,042 Million
Recreation Culture 21,609 Million
Transportation 20,556 Million
General Government 16,519 Million
Debt 15,351 Million.

There is more but you get my drift. These are 2015 figures.

So when we look at saving money, we need to look in those areas where we spend the most, and of course those areas where we spend the least, so we have a balanced perspective.

P Val – it’s even worse than you realize. First, I am “religious” though likely other religious people would define me as a heretic – especially for what I’m about to say.

When people donate to their church, once they give more than $200.00, they get a tax credit of about 46 cents on the dollar.

So, when you look at all the churches in town, possibly up to 46% of their budget, is funded by the Canadian taxpayer.

Now, the government does get to tax the pastor, but she/he get’s all sorts of tax breaks, so essentially the first $40,000 is tax free.

And yes, churches get a permissive tax exemption – permissive. The city could charge them property tax if they wanted to.

But on the flip side, the government uses the tax number as a way of controlling churches. If you go political, or start saying hateful things, you can lose that tax number, and hence 46% of your funding.

It should also be noted, and this will probably really irritate you the most, but religious schools a part of the tuition is eligible as a donation tax receipt because a component of the instruction is religious in nature, so private school tuition at a religious school is also partially subsidized via the taxpayer.

The Canadian taxpayer is a wonderful person. She/he funds religion, war, refugees, F.N. Treaty obligations, people’s poor lifestyle choices – and the list is endless. We better hope whoever he/she is, they live a long time.

“It should also be noted, and this will probably really irritate you the most, but religious schools a part of the tuition is eligible as a donation tax receipt because a component of the instruction is religious in nature, so private school tuition at a religious school is also partially subsidized via the taxpayer.”

Tuition would partially be covered by the government as would any private education institution. This doesn’t have to do with religion, has to with reducing the burden on the public system.

pgjohn, there are two components of government support to religious private schools. Component one is direct funding of up to 50% of what the public school get’s. Component two, is a portion of the tuition fees the parent pays to the private school, are considered charitable donations – it varies from school to school, but about half of what they pay, they get a receipt for, so the government also funds about 25% of the tuition paid by the parent. Private schools are still a good deal for the government vs the same child being in the public system, but the taxpayer’s contribution via tax relief is more than people realize.