Goodman's good sense

LORD GOODMAN'S report on charities*, which has had a gestation period of nearly three years, is a wise and sensible document and for that reason will not satisfy the extremists and the radical reformers.
It proposes no revolutionary changes: it recommends continued travel along the well-known paths established by the Elizabethan statute of 1601: it puts forward some helpful ideas for reform.
The status of the document is private and unofficial: the enquiry was commissioned by the National Council for Social Service, but it is bound to have considerable influence on government thinking.
Lord Goodman sticks to the traditional definition of charitable status, namely the promotion of religion, education and the relief of poverty. Whether an organisation does in fact promote these causes and is of general benefit to the community would continue to be decided by the Charity Commissioners with the help and co-operation of a new Charities Board.
No doubt this is not a perfect arrangement, and gives (subject to appeal to the courts) wide discretion to civil servants and others, but it appears preferable to the alternative which Lord Goodman rejects — that all non-profit distributing organisations should enjoy charitable status. Such a change would be both expensive and dangerous.
The public would not take kindly to special tax concessions being made to organisations whose aims might well be considered cranky or positively harmful to the community. The advantage of sticking to the Elizabethan trilogy is that the system contains a built-in regulator.
The Catholic Church would clearly be affected by any change in the law governing charities, being involved in both the religious and educational spheres, but has nothing to fear from Lord Goodman's report, which states that religion should continue to qualify as a charitable purpose, except religions considered by the courts to be detrimental to public we On contemplative orders the report comments that they do not normally have proper charitable objects but that a value judgment has to be made in each case.
Among the reforms put forward by Lord Goodman I attach particular importance to that giving charities greater political freedom.
The report suggests liberalisation of the law' which inhibits charities from taking part in political activities and counsels that charitable status should not be withheld provided that
political activity is ancillary to the main object of the charity and that it does not include financial support for or opposition to any political party or individual seeking elective office.
Such a change would be beneficial to societies such as SPUC, which exist to promote reverence for life but which clearly have an interest in statute law and parliamentary activities.
Apart from setting up a Charities Board, the report wants a relaxing of the tax laws in relation to charities. it suggests, for example, that the period of a covenant to qualify for incomelax relief should be reduced from seven years to four, and that relief should be granted not only at the standard rate but at the higher rates as well. up to a maximum of 10 per cent of income.
It also suggests that charities should be allowed to reclaim value added tax on all expenses over f25.
On private schools and private medicine the report has some helpful things to say and counsels against rigging the taw against public schools and private hospitals. It rightly comments that if private education and medicine are to be done away with, it should be by direct political action not by a side-wind.
At present private schools qualify for 50 per cent relief from rates, they are exempt from corporation tax and they are able to benefit by receiving money through covenants. Independent schools would probably lose about 7 per cent of their income if their charitable status was abolished.
Such a course is advocated by the Labour Party, and indeed was contained in the election manifesto. I can say, however, that if this status was to be done away with by the Labour Party, a Conservative government would restore it, on the grounds that it is wrong to rig the law against particular charities because of political objections to their purposes.
One sphere in which extension of the tax concessions consequent on charitable status could have considerable impact is that of the arts. It is highly desirable that State finance of the arts should be complemented by support from private sources, and this could be brought about by allowing tax concessions for support of the arts. 'fins is a sphere which could profitably be examined by all political parties.
The Welfare State has obviously come to stay, but the sphere of private charitable and voluntary activity remains of high importance. Lord Goodman's excellent report should facilitate the work of many organisations and individuals engaged in this vital work.
*Charity Law and Voluntary Organisations; Report of the Goodman Committee. (National Council of Social Service, 26 Bedford Square, London WC1, £2.)