I happened to spend a day running errands in St. Albert a few weeks ago. I noticed a trend that seems to be becoming pervasive in the retail community.
At the tills, Walmart, Staples and Safeway, as well as Tim Hortons and McDonalds, are all asking for my support for different charities while I am at the cash register.
Even the self checkouts at some businesses have a prompt at the end of the transaction.
The charities are all worthy. The food bank, United Way, the Stollery, Ronald McDonald House, etc.
My questions are these:
Does the company receive a tax deduction when they make the charitable donation? (I don't get the deduction and I'm paying with after tax dollars.)
What deductions are the companies taking from the money raised, as it stated that proceeds are sent in most cases. Is signage, marketing, etc., paid out of funds first?
My biggest issue is really this: with our current level of taxation, shouldn't we expect that the Stollery, food banks, Special Olympics, etc., could get their support from our taxes? Wouldn't we rather see that community fundraising for art installations, fireworks, festivals, etc., were paid for through community fundraising? If financial support couldn't achieve the target, then the will was never there in the first place.
We need to "finish all our dinner first" – then we can think about dessert.
Alan Otway, Morinville
