Last Friday, Finance Minister Paul Martin announced a proposal to make permanent the 1997 budget measure that provides special tax assistance for donations of publicly traded securities to charities.

Under the measure, the amount included in the income of a donor for capital gains tax purposes arising from certain donations of publicly traded securities to public charities is one-half the amount included for other capital gains. This measure was scheduled to expire on December 31.

“From the data available, it appears that this measure has been an effective additional incentive for people to make donations to charities,” said Martin. “This is exactly what the measure was designed to do.”

The government says it intends to continue to work with the charitable sector to determine whether there is an appropriate and cost-effective basis for broadening this measure beyond its current application.

The announcement also applies to certain donations of securities acquired by an employee through a stock option plan. The minister indicated that legislation to implement this announcement will be introduced in Parliament at the earliest opportunity.