Apparently, not content with stealing huge sums of money from us and frittering it on fake charities, hmg wants us to give even more of our money for free.
People could give to charity every time they use bank cards in shops or at cash machines, the government has said.
They could also be prompted to give money when they fill in tax returns, or apply for passports and driving licences, the Cabinet Office suggested.
Lottery winners would get thank-you letters from ministers if they donated large sums to good causes, it added.
I’m sure a thank-you letter will make all the difference, eh? Bear in mind, the lottery already donates to so-called good causes, so the lottery winner has already done their bit. I don’t do the lottery as I can do maths, however, the only good causes I would consider donating to would be ensuring those I love don’t have to worry about money any more.
I don’t have a charity credit card. Indeed, when I have sorted out my indebtedness, I intend to get rid of the damned things, so that one is a non-starter for me. Nor do I intend to give any more money than is absolutely necessary when filling in my tax returns – I already part with too much of my hard-earned as it is.
Frankly, while the government gives my money to fake charities that are little more than lobbying bodies intent on controlling my life, I will not give any money to charity – as I have already given, unwillingly, by force with the threat of violence if I refuse. If the government wants me to give freely to those causes I support, they can stop taking it from me by force and let me make my own choices. Until then, they can take a hike.
The proposals are set out in a government paper calling for charitable giving to become a “social norm”.
Whether or not it is the social norm is nothing to do with government, though.
And it recommends a national “round-up-the-pound” scheme which would allow people to give donate “change” when paying by debit or credit card.
Change from a credit card, eh? I’ll have some of that, please…
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Update: The Guardian has more on this egregious scheme:
The green paper also considers whether the government should try to set as a social norm that everyone should give 1% of their income to charity, or a fixed proportion of their time.
I’m sorry (actually, no, I’m not), you can fuck right off. If I choose to give time or money to charity, it will be on my terms and amounts of my choosing and the government will not be involved at all. And, the more they push, the more I’ll dig in my heels.
The green paper quotes David Halpern, one of the advisers to the nudge unit, who argues: “Our behaviour is generally far more influenced by what we see other people doing than what we think we should be doing.”
Mine isn’t. Being a free thinker, I make my own decisions and take no interest in what others are doing.
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Update: The Telegraph also picks up on the story. As with the Groan and the blogs, the comments are unremittingly negative and hostile. Not the best idea to come out of the coalition. I wonder how long before they notice?
prompted to give money when they fill in tax returns, or apply for passports and driving licences,
Well as I mentioned in my own post, I’ve already been ‘promted’ that if I don’t give them £20 I will be breaking the law. And my new passport cost me £85 this year.
IF they want to me add on a few quid for their favourite charidee, they can take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.
Charitable giving always was the social norm until they started taking huge sums of our money so they could ‘do it for us’. If they cut tax by the amount they spend on what they think should be done by charities I think they would find it would become the norm again. Is this nudging, naming and shaming, or just another politician talking bollocks?
In the US, of course, real charitable giving continues to be, as it has always been, very much the social norm. Governments there, surprisingly enough, have recognised this as a good thing and made it tax-deductable. Threatening to write thank you letters isn’t going to have quite the same effect.
I did once get an MBNA “charity” credit card. Actually it was just MAG taking advantage of the law, so that they could set one up. MBNA were offering a £5 donation to MAG just for me having the card and a further £25 to MAG the first time I used the card. So I got one.
Four years later I used it to pay for a dirt cheap hotel bill in Germany that only accepted credit cards – £24-50.
Another 3 years down the line and I was about to use it to pay for some flights and they cancelled it.
I now have one from my own bank and have used it only to pay for those flights. In 3 years time, I will use it again.
The ONLY charity I donate to is the RNLI, who are genuinely independent, and have rejected government money, so as to keep control of their activities. The rest can f*** right off, as far as I’m concerned.
The RNLI is one of the few genuine charities that I am prepared to give to when I have money to give. I don’t at the moment, so it’s all a bit moot.
XX The green paper also considers whether the government should try to set as a social norm that everyone should give 1% of their income to charity, or a fixed proportion of their time. XX
Like it was a “social norm” for soldiers, students, workers to be forced off onto farms to “voluntarily help bring in the harvest”, or “Volunatrily help in hospitals” in the Soviet Union and China do they mean?
You did not get rid of the labour (I am scum me and proud of it) party, Britain voted to let them change their name, and leader to (call me bastard Dave) Commyron.
I too support the RNLI, family history there. Lifeboatmen risk their lives voluntarily every time they go out. Maybe if the politicians would risk their lives I might, repeat might, consider donating to one of their charities but I would have to see evidence of real peril and preferably death beforehand. On the other hand if a charity was set up to rid us of these bastards I would donate to them.
It’s pretty simple really, if you take my money off me in taxes its not available for me to give to charities.
The monocular mentalist screwed me for 13 years. He hit my current spending on everything I might want to spend on luxuries as well as all those things I need in my daily life. He trashed my retirement savings as well. So just how much spare cash does CallMeDave think is left for his “nudging numpty” F Maude to direct towards whichever charidee he deems suitable?
As to whether they notice what us little people think – they don’t even know we’re here other than as sources of tax revenue. In that, as in so many other ways, nothing changed when the gummint did.