Adam Smith Institute

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Charities and the Robin Hood Tax

Sam Bowman

Have you ever given money to Oxfam thinking, "Gee whiz, I hope some of this goes on support for the Robin Hood tax campaign!"? Me neither. I doubt many people do. The phenomenon of charities like Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontières, The Salvation Army and others supporting the Robin Hood Tax is bizarre. Most people give to charity thinking that their money will go on doctors for poor people, food for starving people, shelter for homeless people, or the like. They would be surprised – and, I expect, angry – to find out that the charity they are donating to is a supporter of the Robin Hood Tax campaign.

In the interests of people who want to give money to charity without supporting the Robin Hood Tax, here is a list of the more prominent charities that support the campaign (I've emboldened some of the most prominent ones):

  • Action for Global Health
  • ActionAid
  • Barnardo's
  • Bond
  • CAFOD
  • Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
  • Christian Aid
  • Christian Medical Fellowship
  • Church Action on Poverty
  • Comic Relief
  • Concern Universal
  • Health Poverty Action
  • International HIV/AIDS Alliance
  • Oxfam
  • Pump Aid
  • Restless Development
  • Save the Children UK
  • SCIAF
  • Stop AIDS Campaign
  • TB Alert
  • The British Dietetic Association [I had never heard of these guys, but I thought it was funny]
  • The Salvation Army
  • UNICEF UK
  • Water Aid

Now, are there a lot of people who donate to The Salvation Army with the intention of supporting the Robin Hood Tax? Probably not. When I give to charity, I want to help people who are less fortunate in life than me, not support crackpot, celebrity-backed economic cyanide masquerading as "tax justice". Fake Charities monitors charities that get money from the government.

In future, I'll only be giving to charities like these, which (as far as I'm aware) do not support anything like the Robin Hood Tax:

There are plenty of others (leave suggestions in the comments). Charity should mean charity, nothing else.

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