Tax Office Statistics - 2001 Update

6 February 2004

16% Increase in Tax Deductible Donations

The latest Tax Office Statistics released on 15 December 2003 have confirmed an eight year trend in increased claims for donations to charities and other public funds. Claims of $838m were made in 2000-01, an increase of $117m (16 per cent) on the previous year. Over 3.4 million taxpayers made claims: 41 per cent of total individual taxpayers.

Tax Office Statistics

The table below has been updated following publication of the 2001 Tax Office Statistics.

Tax Office Statistics on Gifts by Individuals

Year:	92-93	93-94	94-95	95-96	96-97	97-98	98-99	99-00	00-01
Gifts claimed	$439m	$471m	$495m	$528m	$541m	$581m	$632m	$721m	$838m
% Change		7.3%	5.1%	6.7%	2.5%	7.4%	8.8%	12.3%	14%
Taxpayers making claims	3.13m	3.16m	3.17m	3.20m	3.15m	3.2m	3.3m	3.41m	3.45m
Average annual Gifts value	$140	$149	$156	$165	$171	$182	$192	$211	$243
Total Taxpayers	9.27m	9.39m	9.62m	9.85m	9.8m	9.79m	9.74m	11.86m	12.02m

The proportion of taxpayers claiming deductions hovered at around 1/3 of taxpayers lodging returns for several years. However, in the last two years this figure dropped to 29 per cent. Thus, the number of individuals making claims for gifts as a tax deduction has remained remarkably steady over the last few years. On the other hand, the amount claimed has almost doubled since 92-93.

This trend can mean one or both of two things:

The increase in giving is carried by the few generous people giving more; and/or
generous people are more inclined to claim their deductions, possibly in response to government incentives.

The picture painted by the statistics for the last eight years depicts a consistently narrow base of donors holding up philanthropy in Australia. This means that, rather than spreading the increased load across a broader base, the same number of individuals are bearing a heavier burden. The figures show that the culture of giving in Australia is not growing and charities are having to rely on the generosity of the philanthropic few.

Previous research by Givewell- http://www.givewell.com.au/not_claimed.asp - based on 1997 data found that 2/3 of total individual donations were not claimed as a tax deduction and that around 5.2 million Australians made donations to charity without making a claim for a deduction in their income tax return.

Tax Office Statistics do not provide information on claims for donations by other taxpayers such as companies, trusts or superannuation funds.

Dr Jill G Thomson

Research Analyst Givewell

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