Call for charity levy on wealthy

By Nicholas Timmins, Financial Times
Published: Feb 12, 2008

Richer taxpayers should pay a surcharge of 10 per cent on earnings or investment income above £150,000 a year if they do not give the same sum to charity, Frank Field, Labour's former welfare reform minister, said yesterday.

The aim was "to encourage richer taxpayers to embrace the responsibilities of wealth" in a new philanthropy reminiscent of the Edwardian era.

The surcharge would be offset against charitable giving, with the government creating a national endowment fund to give the money away for those who failed to choose where it should go.

What the levy should be and where the threshold should fall are a matter for debate, he added, but his proposed structure would raise £3.6bn a year.

Nicholas Timmins