Here is a list of the amounts of donations claimed by donors on their Canadian tax forms.  We have lamented, especially the 2006 year, when there was over $1.3 billion in abusive charity gifting tax schemes claimed that these were not real donations.   However, the bigger story is not those who claim amounts they are not entitled to – but the many Canadians who don’t claim any or all of their receipted donations.  Here is a list of the years and the amounts claimed by Canadian individuals on their income tax returns.  It goes from $4.2 billion in 1997 to $9.5 billion in 2017.  Just to provide some context in 2017 Canadian registered charities issued over $18 billion in official donation receipts, even though only $9.5 billion were claimed on individual tax returns.

YearDonations claimed by Canadian Individuals on their tax filing (in 000)
19974,273,085
19984,641,468
19994,847,682
20005,438,672
20015,514,371
20025,847,068
20036,513,013
20046,922,616
20057,879,588
20068,529,976
20078,648,660
20088,189,280
20097,750,405
20108,253,210
20118,465,375
20128,308,585
20138,600,755
20148,797,115
20159,132,170
20168,888,325
20179,576,975

For more analysis on these numbers see Stats Can releases information on charitable donations and it is as meaningless as always