NMDC response to Office of Tax Simplification review of tax reliefs

NMDC has responded to the Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) review into current tax reliefs, allowances and exemptions, which aims to identify those that should be simplified or repealed.  NMDC, with the Art Fund and MLA, submitted a response in defence of a number of important areas for our sector.

This response is part of wider work in which the NMDC and other members of cultural bodies are involved around the philanthropy agenda - going back to 2008, when a number of these bodies produced the document Private Giving for the Public Good.  We are firmly committed to maintaining current incentives which contribute towards promoting a culture of philanthropy.  Support for museums and other cultural institutions to attract private donations is ever more important in the current economic climate.  We feel strongly that, to support a change in the giving culture, all signals for promoting philanthropy should point in the same direction.  Such an approach would include an unabashed celebration of philanthropy, public recognition of the contribution made by philanthropists, and fiscal incentives to encourage a culture of giving.

We welcome the Government’s commitment, noted in The Cabinet Office’s Green Paper on Giving, to review the relationship between financial incentives and giving. We believe that this will offer a crucial opportunity to look at changes to the tax regime and other incentives to support one off and regular giving.

In our response we have been more specific to the tax regimes under review and submit our views on a number of the detailed areas. Whilst we believe that these are important, we also believe that the way in which philanthropists are treated in the tax system is extremely important and links into the wider issue of how we recognise those who give generously to the nation.

To download the full NMDC response click here.

For more information on the OTS review see the OTS website.