Oh dear, my friends at Unlock Democracy seem to have become moist with excitement at a comment I made on the Philanthropy post below. To my utter astonishment they have issued a press release welcoming the fact that I apparently support match funding for political donations. I don't. What I do support is tax relief for political donations below a certain limit, so it would be treated like any charitable donation.
James Graham, the enterprising press officer left a comment saying "Presumably then, you would approve of the same system being introduced for donations to political parties?" I gave a rather short reply of "yes, indeed". I thought he meant tax relief, rather than match funding.
So to those who may have got the impression that my previous total opposition for any expansion to State Funding has weakened, I'd just like to reassure you that it hasn't.
And there was me thinking we'd heard the last of people misinterpreting your comments.
ReplyDeleteWho'd be a blogger, eh?
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ReplyDeleteAnother one of my comments is missing Iain ...
ReplyDeleteYou are in danger of giving the impression that you do not understand the concept of charities being non-political. Although you can dish it out re Smith you cannot take it re PE.
Gift Aid for political donations is not just a question of extending something slightly it is a whole new category for "charity" treatment.
Nice to get the extra 28% (meaning a loss of this much to the Treasury) but not actually all that much different to the public funding of political activity on a match funding basis that you are so opposed to.
And for the moment I agree with you on that and therefore disagree with you on Gift Aid extension.
None of your comments have been moderated.
ReplyDeleteAnd your point on charities is rubbish.
Your persistent attack on Policy Exchange is getting tedious in the extreme. No one has been able to accuse Policy Exchange of breaching any rules at all. The only reason left wing bloggers are attacking it is so they can deflect attention off the Smith Institute. It's pathetic. And you have become very boring on the subject.
And your other point on match funding is equally wrong. Gift aided tax relief is not the same as State Funding at all.