§ Mr. Newtonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the effects on revenue, individually and in total, of the recommendation for taxation policy summarised in paragraph 135 of the Goodman Report on Charity Law and Voluntary Organisations.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonIt is not possible to give a complete costing of all the recommendations summarised in paragraph 135 of the Goodman Report without expenditure of disproportionate time and effort. However, the following estimates related to sub-paragraphs (a), (g) and (h) have been made from information already available.
(a) No estimate of the total cost of all fiscal reliefs to charities is available. However, in 1975–76, the total cost of repayments by the Inland Revenue amounted to about £80 million, of which about £30 million was the result of covenanted donations.
(g) The available VAT statistics do not distinguish registered charities as such. The best estimate that can be made is that the cost of exempting charities from VAT would he of the order of £1 million a year. The cost of allowing charities to reclaim VAT could well be considerably higher.
(h) Using the Layfield Report's estimate that about 0.2 per cent. of the exist- 96W ing revenue from rates is forgone by the statutory relief provisions, it is estimated that:
- i. the additional cost of mandatory 75 per cent rate relief would be about£4½ million in a full year;
- ii. the cost of extending 75 per cent. relief to include the general service charge for water supplies which is levied in England and Wales only would be about £1½ million in a full year.