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The 2008 Allen Lane lecture, given on 12th February by Frank Field, former Minister for Welfare Reform in the Labour government from 1997-98, included a proposal to encourage philanthropy amongst those earning over £150,000 a year by levying an additional 10% tax. This surcharge could be totally offset by charitable giving, for example by setting up a new foundation or donating to an existing foundation.
It was calculated that this idea would raise an additional £3.6 billion for charity but the primary aim was intended to develop a new spirit of philanthropy and “encourage richer taxpayers to embrace the responsibilities of wealth”.
Field paid tribute to the philanthropic efforts of some ‘super-rich’ people such as Tom Hunter, David Sainsbury and J. K. Rowling saying, “There are a number of philanthropic stars in the sky. But the powerful intensity of their action testifies, I fear, to how few they are in number and how dark the remainder of the sky remains.”
Field notes there has been an explosion of wealth in the UK in recent years but he argues that relatively few of the ‘new seriously rich’ give generously to charity. He says, “Contracts on acceptable behaviour have been imposed on miscreant youths who do not fulfill properly their obligations to a society that supports them. Similarly, I believe acceptable behaviour contracts should now be applied to today’s super-rich.”
Field famously described his role at the Department for Social Security as ‘thinking the unthinkable’, and some commentators found this idea similarly challenging. Writing in Giving Insights, Martin Brookes, chief executive of New Philanthropy Capital, argues that people should be inspired by the opportunity to improve society rather than incentivised to give by the tax system. Brookes comments, “There is scant evidence that pushing people to give more results in higher levels of donations”.
The text of Frank Field’s lecture is available online
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