I'm not certain I like the idea of tax credits for political donations, much less direct funding of political parties.

Essentially, these parties want the tax-payer to fund their political philosophy.  Logically, where do we set the bar?  Do we set it high (say a million votes) and thus fund only the top three parties?  Do we set it medium (100k votes) and thus also fund the Green party and the Bloc Quebecois?  Or do we set it low and end up funding the Libertarian, Communist and the Christian Heritage parties?  If we fund by vote, reasonably, we have to fund by _all_ votes, I think - otherwise the current government is essentially choosing which parties can run effectively.

I suggest that it makes far more sense for supporters to fund parties directly.