Charity Tax Dropped
16 December 2013 at 9:16 am
Not for Profit peak body, the Community Council for Australia, has welcomed a move by the Federal Government to not proceed with a new tax that would have brought into question all the income-producing activities of charities.
David Crosbie, CEO of the CCA, said the decision of the Abbott Government to abandon plans for a new tax on charities and Not for Profits was a very welcome decision.
“For the last two years, charities have been concerned that their income-producing activities may jeopardise their charitable status and the concessions they receive,” Crosbie said.
“This announcement is a very good outcome for the one in eight Australians employed in the Not for Profit sector, and all our communities that will benefit from their Not for profit organisations being both more secure and more able to diversify their income streams.
“In this area, the Government has clearly listened to the Not for Profit sector and provided a measure of certainty for future planning of income-producing activities. CCA had raised this issue with the Assistant Treasurer and he has responded very positively.”
The previous Labor Government had introduced, but not passed into legislation, “the Better Targeting of Tax Concessions” Bill to review tax concessions for charities involved in income-producing activities.
It had argued that the Government was foregoing significant revenue because some of the income-producing activities of charities were not being directed to charitable purposes.
The Assistant Treasurer Senator Arthur Sinodinos said that he would not proceed with the “Better Targeting of Tax Concessions” Bill, but would consider other measures where charities were inappropriately exploiting their charitable status to gain tax concessions.
“The Government will also not proceed with the measure to 'better target' Not for Profit tax concessions at this stage, but will explore simpler alternatives to address the risks to revenue,” he said.
David Crosbie said “like most of the charitable sector, CCA supports the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) ensuring that all Australian charities operate to pursue their charitable purposes”.
“Where organisations are pretending to be charities, but actually operating for profit businesses, the ACNC should remove their charitable status and the Australian Taxation Office should not provide any tax concessions,” Crosbie said.
“Many other groups have joined with CCA in welcoming the announcement including: the RSPCA, Musica Viva, Smith Family, World Vision, Mission Australia, The Big Issue, Drug Arm Australia, Good Beginnings, Lifeline, the Benevolent Society, Hammond Care and Wesley Mission.”
