Charities Look Forward to GST Discussions

The Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission welcomes the concerns expressed by Mr Beazley in relation to the impacts of the GST on charities.

The National Director, Mr Toby O’Connor, said: "Charities appreciate and welcome the Opposition Leader’s commitment to addressing the impacts of the GST on the provision of emergency assistance by charities. Under this unjust tax regime charities must pay GST for emergency assistance items for disadvantaged people, such as heating bills and other essentials, for which the charities are not compensated.

"As a result the Charities themselves have hundreds of thousands less to spend on disadvantaged families. This tax slug is in addition to the crippling compliance costs of the GST on Charities.

"Prior to the Government unveiling its tax package, the Bishops of Australia issued a statement of moral reference points to help guide the development of socially just taxation reforms. The Bishops listed ten desired outcomes for reform, which included ‘that charities suffer no detriment in the new tax regime.’ We now see that it is the needy who suffer, not only as a consequence of a regressive GST but also as the charities now have substantially less money to meet emergency needs.

"The GST is now revealed not only to punish the poor, to be unfairly burdensome on the nation’s small businesses, but is also unjustly slugging charities and preventing them from assisting the poor with emergency relief."

Mr O’Connor concluded, "In light of the ongoing refusal of the Coalition to address these problems, the Catholic Social Welfare Commission welcomes the fact that the concerns of this sector are finally being acknowledged."