... from the Vancouver Sun.

CANADA COUNCIL PROPOSES TAXATION BREAK FOR ARTISTS

OTTAWA. The Canada Council today urged the federal and provincial
governments to take a number of tax measures that would ease the
financial burden on artists and encourage Canadians to provide more
money for the arts.

The council is the agency administering the money that the federal
government makes available for promotion of all performing and visual
arts.

The council announced in a statement these key recommendations re-
sulting from an independent study undertaken for it:

The individual taxpayer should be permitted to average his income
over a period of five years.

Charitable donations, which in legal terms include donations to the
arts, should be made deductible for both individuals and corporations
up to a level of 20 per cent of income, instead of the present 10%.

Gifts other than cash that are worth more than $500 should be fully
deductible if they are made to qualified organizations.

A deduction of 150% of the value of any donations of a capital nature
to approved arts projects should be allowed for income-tax purposes.
The council suggests a five-year trial period for this measure.

This special tax relief would be the same kind of incentive the govern-
ment gives for expansion of research facilities. Taxpayers would be
alloved to reduce their taxable income by $150 for every $100 they
contributed to approved capital projects for the arts.

The council-commissioned study of taxation relating to the arts was
undertaken over a period of months by Montreal lawyer Philip Vine-
berg and two chartered accountants, Mercel Caron, of Montreal and
Michael Mackenzie of Toronto, both attached to the firm of Clarkson,
Gordon and Co.

While the council says that all wage-earners should be permitted
deductible expenses, "it feels that artists, by the nature of their work,
20.