Friday, August 27, 2004
Canadian tax authority tells churches not to speak on moral issues
Sometimes news takes a while to reach us, but is no less significant for that.
The legal counsels for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops were called to a meeting with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in early March and were warned by tax officials that if they became involved in "partisan political activity" during the then coming 2004 federal election, they would risk losing their tax-exempt status.
According to the CRA, to avoid being partisan meant not addressing issues on which the competing political parties have opposing views. This could include coming out strongly on an issue such as same-sex marriage or poverty.
One official said: "The best thing for a charity to do, especially during an election, is to stay away from those issues. There are certain issues, especially during election times, that are very political." All moral issues, including even poverty, seem to be covered by the gag order.
This is significant for New Zealand, because the Charities Bill currently before a Select Committee, provides for exactly the same thing to happen here. Under the Bill, a charity can be deregistered if it carries out any activities that are not primary to its charitable purpose.
Sometimes news takes a while to reach us, but is no less significant for that.
The legal counsels for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops were called to a meeting with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in early March and were warned by tax officials that if they became involved in "partisan political activity" during the then coming 2004 federal election, they would risk losing their tax-exempt status.
According to the CRA, to avoid being partisan meant not addressing issues on which the competing political parties have opposing views. This could include coming out strongly on an issue such as same-sex marriage or poverty.
One official said: "The best thing for a charity to do, especially during an election, is to stay away from those issues. There are certain issues, especially during election times, that are very political." All moral issues, including even poverty, seem to be covered by the gag order.
This is significant for New Zealand, because the Charities Bill currently before a Select Committee, provides for exactly the same thing to happen here. Under the Bill, a charity can be deregistered if it carries out any activities that are not primary to its charitable purpose.
