Since we pay Tax why are charities needed?

Since we pay Tax why are charities needed?

Are we paying twice for same thing?

Charities do very good work. The point is not that charities do not do good work, but they should not be needed if government bureaucracies were efficient.

This is written from experience in England, but I suspect it is the same in many other nations. The TV is full of appeals that we give money to charities, lump sums, monthly donations, leaving money in last will and testament etc. Money to save big cats, money to save small cats, money to save donkeys, money to save dogs, money to improve quality of water in Africa, money to save eyesight of children in Africa, money to provide guide dogs for the blind, money to support activities by activists demanding we change our lives, money for international medical aid, money for international emergency rescues, money to relieve suffering, money to pay for medical research. Money for the homeless. Our town centres are filled with charity shops raising money for local Hospices, money to care for deprived children, money to help Blind people, money for emergency helicopters, the list goes on and on.

Taxpayers’ money is sent to the UN (£82 million in 2014) and WHO (£39million in 2022) Pharmaceutical companies always claiming they spend billions on research, British overseas aid amounts to about £15 billion (£13.4Billion in 2016). Tax money is given to some charities. The national lottery raises £millions every week to go to charities ( over £15million a week--£500million a year according to Wikipedia) The UK government via the department of health and social care spend over £200 BILLION of taxpayers money every year. The majority of public spending by the UK government goes on public health (£211.6 billion) and welfare (£208.8 billion).

Now, in 2024, the amounts being handed to international organisation is going to be way over figures shown here. So, given these vast amounts of public money, why do we need charities? I accept that we do need them, and they do good work and I accept that probably because they do not have to cope with the dead weight of governmental bureaucracy, they are better at providing some things than the government agencies are. But they should not be needed, just as an example chosen at random; The UK America Canada Australia Japan etc all provide money to the World Health Organisation. So why are charities left to provide health care in undeveloped nations? If it is known that poor quality of water is causing death, disease and ill health what are the WHO and the government of these nations, doing about it? The charities exist because of a need but that need should be filled and paid for by the organisations we all pay for, with our taxes.

Charities are now global big business, and some reports suggest the chief managing officers get very large salaries, even if much of the actual work is done by unpaid volunteers. How much of the money charities get, is spent on advertising, how much is spent of management salaries, etc, is a question for the charities. In UK there are occasionally disturbing stories of charities getting “government grants” that is taxpayers’ money, that seem disproportionate to their benefits to the public. Charities are not supposed to be “political” but some appear to have allied themselves with a specific political ideology. The sheer scale and economic power of some charities can have a political impact. The concessions and tax “benefits” of being a registered charity can create unfair competition. A tiny example: most rural and semi-rural towns use to have second hand shops often called junk shops, the proprietor eked out a living buying and reselling second hand stuff. Now the charity shops get all goods free ( as donations) they pay reduced rents and rates for their retail premises and use volunteer free labour, and the second-hand traders have been wiped out. Also, the poor who may have sold an item are now expected to give it to charity. Boot sales are now about the only way an individual can raise money by selling their own stuff.

The question is not how well the charities do their work but why are we paying tax for global organisations then have to donate to charities to get the work done?