U.K. Backs Off Charitable Deduction Cap

from Bloomberg Business Week:

U.K. Exempts Charity Giving From Tax Cap in Budget U-Turn

U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne bowed to political pressure and scrapped proposals to include charitable donations in a cap on tax relief, his third U-turn over a budget measure this week.

The cap, limiting tax relief to 50,000 pounds ($77,000) or 25 percent of income, had sparked protests from charities that warned they could lose a significant part of their income.

Announcing the decision today, Osborne said that any kind of cap could have “potentially damaged” charitable giving…

Since the budget on March 21, the government has been in talks with charities and donors to discuss the proposal. More than 1,000 philanthropic groups backed a Charities Aid Foundation call for the government to rethink.