Tax exemptions or direct funding? Grassroots data analysis finds differences in non-profit and industry budget submissions
Why It Matters
More than 900 submissions have been made to the federal government’s pre-budget consultations. This year, the non-profit sector has continued its advocacy for affordable housing, social assistance, and a robust arts sector. However, there are competing forces at bay, with companies and other organizations often advocating for policy change, reform and funding that is directly in opposition to the sector's work.
New analysis of pre-budget consultations across Canada has revealed that non–profits are much more likely to ask for direct funding and funding policy reform than other types of organizations.
In comparison, industry and professional associations are likely to focus their pre-budget submissions on policy considerations, regulatory reform, and tax amendments.
The database is being collated by Terra Loire Gillespie, a strategist supporting the non-profit sector, unions and grassroots groups. Gillespie has also found that of the submissions they have analyzed so far, non-profits are much more likely to have costed out their exact requests of the government than corporations and industry associations.
“There is a huge accountability gap,” Gillespie said, adding that corporations are still asking for dollars through tax exemptions and new regulatory frameworks.
“We’re talking about organizations that are asking for billions in tax exemptions versus organizations that [want] $5 million over three years to do [their activities],” they said.
Lack of accessible data on pre-budget submissions
The federal government has compiled all pre-budget submissions into a webpage, with 948 submissions searchable by keywords.
Gillespie has not only noticed errors in the data and categorization of each submission but also pointed out that the PDFs make it challenging to aggregate and analyze the information.
They have analyzed more than 220 of the 948 total submissions made to the federal government in advance of the Fall Budget, adding the organization type, request made in the submission, and how much funding each organization or company has requested, if at all.
“It’s really illuminating to see everything side by side,” Gillespie said.
For example, the federal government has promised to pour funding into Canada’s artificial intelligence economy and received private sector recommendations on how to do so. Several groups have stressed the need for an equitable and sovereign approach to AI development, including the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Canadian SHIELD Institute, and Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights.
Once the budget drops, Gillespie plans to add columns to the database to show which recommendations have been adopted.
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