CCA Bulletin 38/06
Ottawa,
September 13, 2006
CCA
Advocates for “Establishing an Inclusive Child Fitness
Tax Credit”
Just
the Facts
On
September 11 2006, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA)
participated in a consultation in Ottawa undertaken by the
Ministry of Finance's Expert Panel on the Children's Fitness
Tax Credit. The CCA was pleased to present to the Blue Ribbon
Panel its research and recommendations on the issue of including
arts activities as part of a comprehensive strategy to support
the development of young Canadians. This issue was identified
by CCA members at our March 2006 conferences as a short-term
advocacy priority and is supported by our recent brief,
"Youth
and Culture: Establishing an Inclusive Child Fitness Tax Credit".
It is also presented as one of nine key recommendations to
Government in our fall 2006 pre-budget submission, " A
Creative New Way of Thinking".
In
light of the Government of Canada's stated commitments to
children and to families, and as supported by research presented
in our September 2006 brief, the CCA proposes that the Children's
Fitness Tax Credit be structured as an inclusive one, which
supports the interests of all Canadian children and their
parents. The CCA therefore asks the Minister of Finance, the
Members of the Standing Committee on Finance, and the Members
of the Ministry of Finance's Expert Panel on the Children's
Fitness Tax Credit to accept the following recommendation:
"The CCA urges the Government to expand the Child
Fitness Tax Benefit due to become effective on January 1,
2007, to include a variety of arts activities. The CCA defines
arts activities as including artistic disciplines such as
dance, music, literary creation, theatre and the visual arts,
and, in keeping with UNESCO's own definition, also cinema,
photography, audiovisual and the new technologies that support
the digital arts." (Read
more - PDF)
Reality
Check: According to
information given at the Blue Ribbon Panel meeting, an estimated
amount of $78 would flow back to the pockets of a parent providing
acceptable support evidence for the full $500 Child Fitness
Tax Credit claim.
Tell
Me More
As
announced on May 2, 2006, the federal budget proposed to implement
a Children's Fitness Tax Credit on costs up to $500 for enrolment
in a program of eligible physical activity, effective January
1, 2007 . As indicated in Budget 2006, an Expert Panel
was established to advise the Minister of Finance, the Hon.
Jim Flaherty, on the nature of programs that should be eligible
for the tax credit.
Understanding
the views of Canadians on appropriate programs eligible for
the credit is essential for the Panel to develop its recommendations.
The Panel must take account of the many activities Canadian
children pursue, while ensuring that eligible programs meaningfully
contribute to children's physical fitness. As the Credit
will take effect in January 2007 and the Panel must report
to the Minister of Finance by October 6, 2006, the deliberations
are taking place over a very short timeframe.
The
Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) was pleased to present
its views to the Panel on this issue and to hear other voices
of Canadian civil society express their views on the extent
of the credit, its anticipated effects and the issues related
to its implementation.
The
CCA believes that it is important that governments invest
in whatever way possible in the welfare and training of next
generations, and it is well established that the health, social,
and mental benefits a child derives from physical activities
are crucial to her or his development as a human being and
as a citizen.
We
are evidently pleased to hear that artistic disciplines like
dance and some forms of circus arts might qualify for the
tax credit because of their cardiovascular aspects. However,
the CCA asserts that the benefits a child gets from dance
extend beyond the physical and, like other forms of artistic
training, contribute in a significantly different way to the
mental and social "fitness" of that child. We also argue that
those benefits flow over to the community where those children
live.
As
demonstrated by the research presented in " Youth
and Culture: Establishing an Inclusive Child Fitness Tax Credit
", adding a number of arts activities to the proposed
tax benefit would assist in the academic and social development
of those children who partake in a well-rounded set of extra-curricular
activities. Moreover, making the tax benefit more inclusive
would, through introducing new forms of expression and programming
that engage children's interests, further foster and encourage
community respect, participation and growth, assist in pre-empting
violent tendencies and crimes against communities. Further
support for the recommendation presented in the CCA brief
can be found in arguments about fairness and equality.
CCA's more inclusive approach has received the support of
two or three other organizations participating in the September
11 consultation. And, interestingly, most participants used
arguments very similar to ours to make the tax credit more
inclusive than not, at least when it comes to physical fitness.
What
Can I Do
You as an individual or you as an organization can write to
the Panel (see below), to the Minister
of Finance or to the Standing
Committee of Finances to say that you support the suggestion
to expand the Child Fitness Tax Credit to cover artistic training
up to the age of 16.
Persons wishing to submit views to the panel can do
so before September 15, 2006, by writing to the Expert
Panel for the Children's Fitness Tax Credit, Tax Policy Branch,
Department of Finance, 140 O'Connor Street, Ottawa, ON K1A
0G5, or by writing to the panel's e-mail address at fitnesscredit-creditconditionphysique@fin.gc.ca.
You
can also sign the grassroots online petition "Towards
the fair treatment and support of all children", which
was started earlier this year by D.B. Scott of Cambridge,
Ontario. The CCA applauds this shining example of democratic
cultural activism; as of September 12 2006, the petition had
been signed by over 35,000 Canadians!
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