TORONTO – The Journalism and Written Media Independent Panel of Experts has submitted its final report and recommendations to the federal government, to assist with implementation of tax measures in support of Canadian journalism.
Outlined in the 2019 federal budget, the government’s journalism fund will provide close to $600 million in tax credits and incentives to selected media outlets over the next five years.
The report provides guidance to determine which organizations qualify for tax measures, intended to support written news outlets that provide news of general interest to Canadian audiences.
The panel recognizes that this program is limited in scope, and has also made recommendations for government action that goes beyond the support provided in the legislation.
The panel did not have a mandate to change any provisions already passed into law, but was allowed to make further recommendations.
The federal program includes refundable tax credits for qualifying journalism organizations, a non-refundable tax credit for subscriptions to Canadian digital news and charitable status for not-for-profit journalism organizations.
To be eligible for the program, a news outlet must regularly employ two or more journalists and primarily provide original news content to a general audience.
The panel did not attempt to develop a definition that could be used to certify officially approved news outlets. Instead, it provided guidelines on what constitutes general news, good journalistic practices and the activities normally carried out by newsroom employees.
Panel officials say this guidance will enable the minister of national revenue and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to implement and administer the tax measures directly, without need of an official body to certify news outlets.
However, the panel also recognized there will be questions about whether certain news outlets qualify for the program.
It has recommended, as per the budget legislation, that an advisory body be appointed to provide advice to the CRA.
