Churches are considering an urgent submission to Jim Chalmers to shield charities from a potential loss in donations of $3 billion after proposed trust tax changes were kept in Treasury’s policy, despite indications Labor would consider a “carve-out”. Source: The Australian.
After the budget in May, Catholic, Anglican, evangelical and orthodox Christian leaders joined Islamic and Hindu religious groups to warn that $3bn could be lost in donations over five years from 2028 from the Labor government’s proposed tax changes to trusts.
The Treasurer was warned that lost donations could climb to more than $8bn if business donations through “business and community partnerships” were included, and would undermine Labor’s target to double philanthropic donations by 2030. However, the same tax measures are still included in the Treasury package.
Fowler Charity Law principal and adjunct associate professor at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Mark Fowler, said he had hoped an amendment would be made to the proposed legislation to exclude distributions by discretionary trusts to charities and income tax-exempt not-for-profit entities from the scope of the proposed 30 per cent trustee-level tax on trust income.
Professor Fowler on Thursday said negative impacts of the unintended consequences on donations would now have to be addressed in the consultation process.
After religious leaders appealed to Dr Chalmers to change proposed trust tax laws they feared would drastically reduce donations to religious charities, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh, indicated changes to protect charities might be possible.
FULL STORY
Churches alarmed by $3bn donation tax hit (By Dennis Shanahan, The Australian)
