Yahoo Finance Canadians’ claimed charitable donations at 10-year low
The amount of money that Canadians are giving as a percentage of their income and have claimed on their taxes has dropped to a 10-year low, according to a new study.
Research from the right-leaning think tank the Fraser Institute shows that 21.3 per cent of Canadians claimed charitable donations in 2014, the most recent data available, which is down from 25.1 per cent in 2004.
The 2014 figure represents 0.56 per cent Canadians’ income, which is also the lowest it’s been in 10 years. The peak percentage given to charity in the last decade was 0.78 per cent in 2006.
In total, Canadians claimed $9 billion in charitable donations in 2014, but the Fraser Institute said if they had given back at the same clip as in 2006, Canadians would have contributed a further $3.6 billion.
Charles Lammam, the study’s co-author and director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute stressed the need for Canadians to open their wallets.
“The holiday season is a time to reflect on giving, and with Canadians becoming less generous every year, charities face greater challenges to secure resources to help those in need,” he said in a press release.
The Fraser Institute also tracked Americans’ charitable donations in 50 U.S. states, as well as Washington D.C., and compared it to the Canadian data.
It found that Americans are “far more generous,” based on the fact that 24.5 per cent of them claimed charitable donations in 2014, which trumps Canadians’ contributions by 3.2 per cent.
Americans also gave a greater share of their income at 1.42 per cent, which is two-and-a-half times higher than the Canadian rate of 0.56 per cent.
“Many Canadians may be surprised to learn we are far less generous than Americans when it comes to charitable giving, and that’s been the case for many years,” said Ben Eisen, director of provincial prosperity studies at the Fraser Institute.
The study also ranked the contributions of provinces, territories, states and districts on a Generosity Index, which takes into account both the percentage of tax filers who donated to charity as well as how much of a chunk that accounted for in terms of their personal income.
Utah placed first out of 64 jurisdictions, while the highest Canadian ranking went to Manitoba in 37th, with Prince Edward Island (44), Saskatchewan (48) as well as Alberta and Ontario (tied for 50th), trailing behind.
British Columbia (54), Nova Scotia (55), New Brunswick (56), Newfoundland and Labrador (58), Quebec (59) and the Yukon rounded out the top 60.
