The past donation programs dealt with "Buy Low" & "Donate High".

As the government has always wanted people to donate to charities, the government has offered people who donated, "Tax Credits". The individuals, no matter how they obtained the products, could donate them at their "Fair Market Value". They could then receive the "Tax Credit" based on that value, no matter if it is lower or higher than the purchase price.

In these past programs, the individual could purchase product at a low price and donate the products at the "Fair Market Value".

This gave the participant a "Tax Credit", where-by either reducing the amount of taxes owed or refunding the participant money.

The following is an example of what you might have done:

Purchase Price	$10,000
Donation Receipt based on Fair Market Value	$56,521
Tax Credit on Donation: (Tax Credit Based on Highest Provincial Tax Rate: Example using Ontario Tax Rate of 46.41% Highest Provincial Tax Rate X Donation Receipt EX: $56,521 X 46.41 %)	$26,222
Capital Gains Tax
Fair Market Value	$56,500
Less: Cost	$10,000
Capital Gains	$46,500
Taxable Capital Gains	$23,250
Capital Gains Tax Owed (Taxes Owed on Capital Gains: (Example using Ontario Tax Rate of 46.41% Highest Provincial Tax Rate X Taxable Capital Gains EX: $23,250 X 46.41%)	$10,790
Tax Credit on Donation	$26,222
Capital Gains Tax Owed	$10,790
Net Tax received By Donor	$15,431
Less Purchase Price	$10,000
Cash Flow Advantage	$5,731