Charities Bill ends 17-year battle

United Future MP Gordon Copeland today expressed his delight that the Charities Bill has been reported back by the Select Committee to Parliament.

“It is fascinating that today is 17 December because this long running saga had its genesis in Roger Douglas’s flat tax proposal which was announced to a startled nation at a Beehive line-up on 17 December 1987.

“That date is indelibly impressed on my mind because it was also the date on which the then Labour government announced that the traditional tax-free status of charities was coming to an end. Charities, together with other affected groups such as amateur sports clubs, banded together like never before in nationwide protest and I have personally been working on the issue, with successive governments, ever since.

“Charities do an enormous amount for NZ society and it is impossible to imagine how brutal life would be without their ameliorating influence in our communities. They not only assist those in need in countless ways but also soften the hard edge of government bureaucracy. People would rather deal with the Salvation Army any day than Work and Income, which is the government equivalent.

“Since 1987 those in the voluntary sector have not only demanded that government give away the brainless idea of imposing a tax on charity (the word after all means “love of one’s fellow human beings”) but that they begin to give the sector some positive assistance through higher tax rebates to those who support their work through free will giving.

“The $630 tax rebate is by far the most stingy amongst the OECD nations and I am hopeful that government will dramatically liberalise that regime in the near future.

“After 17 years of many twists and turns and countless hours of hard yakka I feel a very real satisfaction that progress is at long last being made.

“To build a strong society and strong communities we need to see charitable activity flourish in every way and the government give a firm lead in encouraging generosity and philanthropy within New Zealand,” said Mr Copeland.

© 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>>