I'm speaking at the Oasis Centre, just the other side of the river from Westminster, on Thursday evening at 7pm in a debate on charities and tax. I'm debating with John Low CBE, CEO of the Charities Aid Foundation.
As the Oasis centre says:
Charities, philanthropists and even coalition politicians have united to condemn George Osborne's budget proposals to limit the amount of money that higher rate tax payers can donate to charity, offset against their tax bill. They warn that the Chancellor's plans are dispiriting, make no sense and will massively harm charities. The ‘Give it back George' campaign is already backed by thousands of charities.
In response Downing Street have announced that there will now be a formal consultation into the matter, taking place across the summer. But, at the same time, George Osborne and his treasury ministers are defending their controversial plans and making it clear that there are "very good reasons" for the cap on which there can be compromise but no U-turn.
But charities warn damage is already being done and large donations are being put at risk because donors are feeling demoralised and disheartened at a policy which brands them as tax dodgers.
Together, we have an early opportunity to inform the process as we debate, discuss and analyse the proposed legislation.
So, come with your opinions and suggestions around a formal response to the proposed legislation and take your seat at The Oasis People's Parliament with a keynote speech from John Low CBE, key player in the ‘Give it Back George' Campaign and CEO of the Charities Aid Foundation. Response from Richard Murphy, Director of Tax Research UK, as well as contributions from other charity leaders and government representatives.
Chaired by Steve Chalke, Founder & CEO of Oasis.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Being a country yokel I shan’t be attending on Thursday (I know that Parliament is in Westminster but do all meetings of this sort have to be there too?); however I would be interested in putting forward a proposal of making contributions to charity be considered as deducted from an individuals gross income rather than from their tax liability. In this way an individual would still be liable to pay income tax and contributions to charity wouldn’t be “capped” (although as the treasury do note there is no cap to the charitable contributions, just to the tax relief on these contributions). Any thoughts on this?
Although I can empathise with the charities and see that this policy is not entirely in line with Cameron’s avowed objective to replace certain parts of welfare provision with charity (how very Gladstonian); I actually agree that the principle behind the policy is sound. individuals should not be permitted to absolve themselves of paying 100% of income tax especially when this also costs the excehquer additional funds through the tax relief matching scheme.
What you are describing is, in effect, what we have now – even if the admin makes it look a little different
In that case I am afraid I see little chance of what you suggest happening.
Sorry
[…] spoke at an event organised by the Oasis Centre in South London tonight, talking about the  proposed cap on donations to charity and offering a […]
[…] I was bemused by most charities at the event I spoke at last night. […]