Top political advisers have appealed for charity legislation to
encourage and regulate charitable activities in the country.
Favorable tax policies for charitable deeds were specially
emphasized.
The proposals were put forward during the ongoing plenary
session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
(CPPCC)
National Committee, by the Central Committee of the Revolutionary
Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang and a CPPCC member, Wang
Keying.
According to statistics of non-Communist party's the central
committee, China's charities depend on donations from overseas to a
great extent.
For example, only about 20 percent of the donations received by
the China
Charity Federation were from local organizations, with the rest
coming from overseas.
Ninety-nine percent of domestic enterprises never participate in
any charitable activities, sources said.
"A charity law is urgently needed," the proposal of the central
committee said.
The current laws and regulations did not give enough attention
to the protection of donors and charity organizations, according to
the proposal.
Domestic corporations' donations are exempt from income tax if
the donated amount is within 3 percent of taxable income. The ratio
is 30 percent for individuals, according to the current taxation
policy.
"This means that when you donate more, you pay more in taxes.
This is obviously negative for the development of the charity
sector," the proposal said.
The non-Communist party's central committee called for a
revision of taxation provisions for donors to encourage more
charitable behaviors.
The proposal said that some charity organizations were involved
in fraud or operating illegally. It added: "Their judicial
responsibilities should be ascertained by law."
Wang Keying, one of the top political advisers, shared the same
views.
"A lack of laws has become a major restrictive factor for the
development of charities," he said.
Born in 1937, Wang was vice chairman of the Committee of
Population, Resources and Environment of the CPPCC National
Committee.
There are only just over 100 charity organizations in China
while in the United States there are 1.4 million non-profit charity
ones, according to Wang.
He advised to enhance the proportion of taxation exemption for
donations to encourage more charitable behaviors.
"The operation of charity organizations should have less
governmental interference," he added.
(China Daily March 6, 2006)