Tax benefit for NGO donations, instead of direct state funding

The Knesset Finance Committee approves tax benefits to donors of NGOs operating in a variety of fields, including welfare, education, and religion.

By LIDAR GRAVÉ-LAZI
Bayit Yehudi MK Nissan Slomiansky 370 (photo credit: Courtesy Bayit Yehudi)
Bayit Yehudi MK Nissan Slomiansky 370
(photo credit: Courtesy Bayit Yehudi)
NGOs working in fields abandoned by the state should receive that state’s support, Finance Committee chairman MK Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi) said on Tuesday.
The Knesset Finance Committee approved tax benefits to donors of NGOs operating in a variety of fields, including welfare, education, and religion.
The benefit will be provided through a credit of 35 percent on donations made to these NGOs, following review by the tax authority, and provided they meet all the necessary criteria that the law stipulates, including proper management and issuing of financial reports.
“In this way the state saves itself large expenses that the state was supposed to finance, had it provided the same services as these organizations,” said Slomiansky.
Slomiansky said to the committee that in contrast to previous meetings that had approved tax benefits to donors, this round of approvals was delayed for numerous months by the Treasury.
The list of NGOs eligible for tax benefits was only recently received by the committee, following his appeals to the Treasury.
“Among the organizations [for approval], are those active in the fields of education, welfare, and religion. For institutions not funded by the government, donations are like oxygen. Approval of the benefit is a real development for many of these public bodies, and the population groups supported by them.
“I intend to do everything to help them, so long as the state does not decide to take care of these issues,” said Slomiansky.
Erez Orad, chief coordinator of the Department of Public Institutions and Non-profit Organizations, also briefed the committee on the NGO evaluation process.
“We check for compliance in criteria through income tax returns, including employee salaries – beginning with the senior employees.
“The list of organizations, which was submitted on the desk of the committee, included only organizations that were examined and that met all the necessary criteria,” said Orad.