NCVO calls for tax on Lottery tickets to meet cost of Olympics
Howard Lake | 12 January 2007 | News
The NCVO wants the Treasury to forgo its 12 per cent tax on the Lottery and redirect it to meet the increased costs of the Olympics.
The call follows news that diverting cash from Lottery good cause funding to fund the 2012 Olympic Games could mean a loss of more than £300m for charities and grassroots community groups throughout the UK.
NCVO’s chief executive Stuart Etherington said that charities could be unfairly penalised due to the increased cost of the Games. A diversion of lottery good cause funding would mean that charities could miss out on over £300m. MPs should be aware that this works out at around £500,000 per parliamentary constituency. It will be smallest grassroots organisations that will be most affected.
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The 12 per cent tax on Lottery tickets raises more than £500m a year for the Treasury. Etherington said the NCVO had been calling on the Government to look at reviewing the tax for some time.
The prospect of a further reduction in Lottery funding for charities and voluntary groups will create insecurity, uncertainty and will threaten their work with some of the most disadvantaged and excluded individuals and communities in our society, he said.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.