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Article: To be charitable, this commission is warped The Charity Commission's ruling on private schools exposes its political bias and loss of direction. It should get back to basics, writes Alasdair Palmer
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- January 20, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2008 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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The Charity Commission has unveiled its understanding of the new
"public benefit test". Introduced by the Charities Act of 2006, the
test stipulates that to count as a charity, an organisation must
prove that it benefits the public. Last week, the Commission claimed
that private schools do not pass it because they benefit only those
rich enough to afford the fees. Unless private schools can prove
that they also benefit people who are not rich, the commission
concluded, they shouldn't have charitable status.
The commission was widely attacked for failing to recognise that
relieving the state of the cost of educating 500,000 children counts
as a benefit to everyone who pays tax. But the real ...