Government listens to charities on tax relief

Scope responds to the news that George Osborne has announced a U-turn by scrapping the proposed "charity tax" that sought to remove tax breaks from wealthy donors.

Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive of disability charity Scope said: “We’re delighted that the Government has scrapped plans to cap tax relief.

“As a charity we are grateful for every donation we receive from our supporters, especially in these challenging economic times.

“We believe our supporters choose to give to us because they want to support disabled people, not because they want to avoid paying tax.

“A cap on tax relief would have had a detrimental impact on our future donations, which are crucial to fund our work with disabled people and their families.

“With sweeping changes to welfare support and cuts to local services, it’s more important than ever that we are able to protect and grow our funding so we can continue to offer our support to disabled people in the future.

“At a time when the Government is promoting its vision of a Big Society, we are pleased that it listened to the strength of feeling on this issue from charities.”