The reason given by the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer for this action is that many apparent philanthropists are anything but and they simply use the rules on tax relief for charitable donations for their personal gain and benefit. I’m sure that there are some unscrupulous donors who do indeed abuse the system but they are surely a minority. What about the genuine philanthropists, people who really do care about the world around them and who want to share some of their hard earned wealth with others not so fortunate? What a massive insult to these people and what a bitter blow to our charitable institutions.

If the Government are so concerned about fraud and corruption, and of course they should be, why don’t they just target the cases of clear abuse and weed out the crooks allowing the decent, honourable majority to carry on their good work. This is clearly a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, with very serious consequences for our charities, nearly all of whom have expressed their concerns to the Government.

I’m neither a politician nor an economist so what do I know about either running or funding a country? However, common sense would seem to indicate some areas where money can be saved. The following come to mind –

* End all foreign aid, we can’t afford it and anyway, charity begins at home. 
*Set up an elite investigative department to eliminate nationwide corruption whether it be small scale social  security scams or large scale corporate fraud. 
*End our foreign military adventures. 
*Close down the Health and Safety Executive (I’m only half joking!).


We are in the middle of a severe economic crisis and, of course, the Government needs to do all it can to keep the country afloat but is hammering charities the way forward?