As Mark Carney's Government prepares to release Budget 2026, the BC Humanist Association (BCHA) is calling on the government to follow through with past recommendations to end the privileged status of religion in Canada's charity laws.
The BCHA released its latest report, The God Tax, today, which estimates that tax credits for religious charities cost the federal and provincial governments at least a billion dollars annually.
Canadian charities issue tax receipts to donors, who can use those to reduce their income taxes. Charities must have a recognized purpose, such as the the relief of poverty or the advancement of education or religion. According to the CRA, religious charities must have "an element of theistic worship." The BCHA has argued this requirement discriminates against non-religious and atheistic groups.
The new study uses 2023 data from the Canada Revenue Agency and Statistics Canada, and past work by Centre for Inquiry Canada (CFIC), to quantify the potential liability faced by governments for donations to religious charities. The BCHA calculates these receipts were worth between $2.1 billion and $3.8 billion in 2023. The authors note, however, that since many donors do not claim their tax receipts, the governments realistically forewent $1.2 billion to $2.1 billion.
"Religion is big business," said Ian Bushfield, BCHA Executive Director and the report's author. "These tax credits have a real cost to government's ability to provide universal, secular services."
In December 2024, the House of Commons Finance Committee endorsed the BCHA's recommendation to "remove the privileged status of 'advancement of religion' as a charitable purpose."