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I feel that government needs to hear from us regarding the recent tax ruling for Celiacs because many of us will not benefit from this so called tax exemption. I have written to Mr. Goodale, Finance Minister, and I hope that many of you will choose do the same including our Canadian Celiac Association to express dissatisfaction with this tax ruling in its present form.  Mr. Goodale's e-mail address is: [log in to unmask] 
If any of you dissagree with my proposal  I would like to hear from you as I feel our listmates would probably be interested in knowing how much support or lack of support there is within the group to have this ruling overturned. Here is how I see this tax exemption issue:
    
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If I can express my opinion, those who were successful in obtaining a tax credit in 2001 and 2002 using the "disability did so only because there were no other vehicles available under the income act to allow us to claim a reasonable tax credit as celiacs.  I don't think this in any way suggests that we are disable. As for the new tax ruling, it appears that a tax credit will only benefit low income celiacs while others with a moderate income will probably not receive a tax credit. Only at the end of the tax year when filing will moderate income earners find out for sure if the exercise was worth the trouble. Many will probably end up with nothing after collecting all of this data in-year. My suggestion is that all Celiacs in Canada write to Mr. Goodale, Finance Minister, to express their dissatisfaction with the recent income tax ruling affecting us celiacs. I did, and here is what I had to say: 

Dear Mr. Goodale;

The decision by your predecessor Mr. Manley to introduce such a ruling for celiac sufferers is simply appauling. (see attached article from the National Post). Not bad enough that we have to spend an enormous amount of our time to shop for these specialty foods and prepare them in order to maintain a healthy diet which keeps us out of the Hospitals and Doctors offices thus saving hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Health Care System, we now find ourselves having to spend more time to track down these expenditures and how they are consumed in our households. This Mr. Goodale is not a benefit to Celiac Sufferers but an extra burden which is more of a penalty for being a Celiac. In my heart, I am a Liberal and have been for many years, but after seeing how we are being treated as Celiacs plus the recent fiasco where millions of dollars have been sniffelled from the government coffers (our tax money) it leaves me dissappointed with my government to the point that I am rethinking my support for a government that I once stood proud of.  As a family, we try to be good corporate citizens only to be treated this way by our government. Mr. Goodale, I urge you to revisit this ruling and to reverse this decision made by Mr. Manley. This is grossly unfair to us celiac sufferers. Thank you for listening. I would appreciate a reply

Victor, Timmins, ON

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *