11 April 2002

United Future leader, Hon Peter Dunne, told the Grey Power Federation AGM in Christchurch today that many retired people contributed huge amounts of voluntary time to community activities for which they received no recognition.

“Yet many of our community activities and organisations would be unable to survive without the contribution of these unsung volunteers.”

“We presently allow an annual tax rebate of up to $500 for people who make financial donations to charities.”

“United Future is saying that it is time to better recognise the contribution of volunteers by introducing a similar rebate system.”

“Under our plan, community volunteers working for a recognised agency would be entitled to a tax rebate of $5 per hour of time contributed, up to a maximum of 100 hours per year.”

“This is an appreciation of the fact that while some people donate money to charities and receive a rebate, others donate their time and receive nothing.”

“It is time to resolve the anomaly,” Mr Dunne said.

Mr Dunne said that the community volunteer tax rebate would be aligned over time with the charitable donations rebate, with any increases in that rebate being passed on to community volunteers.

Ends

© Scoop Media