Did you know...chariable Australians
Australians have become more generous in their donations to charities but the number of people giving has remained relatively static.
Australians have become more generous in their donations to charities but the number of people giving has remained relatively static.
According to statistics from the Australian Tax Office and compiled by charity re-search specialist Givewell, there has been a five year trend in increased claims for donations to charities.
Claims of $581 million were made in 1997-1998, an increase of 7.4 per cent on the previous year, with about 3.2 million taxpayers, a third of the individual tax paying population, prepared to dig deep for others.
Previous research by Givewell found that more than sixty five per cent of individ-ual donations were not claimed as a tax deduction and more than 5 million Austra-lians made donations without making a claim for a deduction in their tax returns.
The average annual increase in claims over the last five years was 5.8 per cent, ex-ceeding the rate of inflation, which reflects an increase in donations rather than a trend to claim a deduction or donate in a deductible form.
"This five year trend is the best evidence to date of a stronger culture of giving de-veloping amongst Australians," Givewell executive director Michael Walsh says.
- Jason Spits
Gifts by Individuals
Year 92-93 93-94 94-95 95-96 96-97 97-98
Gifts claimed ($) 439 471 495 528 541 581
Taxpayers
Making claims (m) 3.13 3.16 3.17 3.2 3.15 3.2
Total Taxpayers (m) 9.27 9.39 9.62 9.85 9.8 9.79
Source: Givewell.
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