Political

Charity donations, tax breaks and the Lib Dem manifesto

Oddly, I’ve not seen anyone mention what the Lib Dem manifesto said about tax and charitable giving in all the current debates over the ‘tycoon tax’ and its proposal to limit charitable tax benefits for the richest.

Here is what the manifesto said:

Liberal Democrats will support the voluntary sector by:…

Reforming Gift Aid to operate at a single rate of 23 per cent – giving more money to charity while closing down a loophole for higher rate tax payers.

In other words, the principle that the tax breaks for charitable donations by the richest should be restricted was what the party was arguing for in 2010. And the party was even saying that the top rate tax relief on charitable tax giving was a “loophole”.

7 responses to “Charity donations, tax breaks and the Lib Dem manifesto”

  1. Yes it may have been in the manifesto – but that doesn't make it a popular policy does it? I think a lot of people like the idea of charities getting the tax back, the only objection most people have is to dodgy charities that benefit their donors.

    • Richard Coe – fair points. My reason for blogging it is that some of the Lib Dems criticising the policy have been doing so along the lines of 'why was this suddenly pulled out of a hat' etc. as if they're unaware the answer is that it is a development of a policy the Lib Dems have been calling for.

    • Mark Pack Do we have any stats on the value and proportion of donations above the proposed thresholds?

    • Richard Coe Stats seem very hard to come by. E.g. I'd like to know what proportion of charity donations are for buying services – e.g. if you go to a museum that charges entry but counts it as a charitable donation your motivation is more buying a service (entry to a museum) than direct philanthropy.

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