National wrong on Charities Bill

The National Party has misunderstood both the Charities Bill and the Income Tax Act 1994.

Under current law, the promotion of sport is not included in the definition of charitable purposes. However, societies and associations that operate substantially or primarily to promote amateur sport are tax-exempt under a separate provision of the Income Tax Act.

The Charities Bill will not alter this provision.

If a gaming trust satisfies the criteria of the Income Tax Act, it will remain able to give money to sporting organisations without its tax-status being affected, even if it does not register with the Charities Commission.

The changes proposed by the Charities Bill proposes will affect neither the charitable status of sporting bodies nor their ability to secure future funding.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>