£250,000 lottery donation for voluntary advisers to help pensioners |
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Tue, 24 May 2005 13:25
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There was good news on the pension front as well, with the announcement that pensioners on low incomes would benefit from a £250,000 national lottery donation.
This donation was won by a small charity, which revealed that it wanted to set up a national network of voluntary advisers who would oversee the tax affairs of pensioners on low incomes. Charity Tax Volunteers said that this £254,205 would help older people who were confused when dealing with the taxman as well as filing returns since tricky questions on the forms tended to be beyond their comprehension. The charity is presently base in a small office in Bridport, Dorset.
William Norris, chairman of the trustees, welcomed the lottery donation move and said, "Some people are frightened and intimidated by the Revenue and would prefer to deal with someone independent."
However, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, was less than impressed, "Helping people to fill in Gordon Brown's tax return is not what most would call a good cause. The tax system is too complex and intrusive. It is time Mr. Brown took steps to make the system simpler and fairer," he commented. Liberal Democrat spokesman Norman Lamb, echoed his views, "This lottery donation highlights that the tax system has become ludicrously over-complicated. Making a donation like this is perverse. It is the system that should change," he said.
Opposition MP's were equivocal in their criticism of this move and commented that the need for lottery donations to groups that duplicated the work carried out by Revenue & Customs was a reflection of complex tax procedures.
Meanwhile, lottery vendor Camelot said that its returns were up by 4.6%, to £1.3bn. Sales through the Internet, mobile phone text messages and interactive TV have boomed in the past 12 months. The Play by Text service, which was launched last October, is especially popular among the younger generation. It allows players to buy a ticket for Lotto, EuroMillions, Thunderball and Daily Play by sending a text message via mobile phone.
Dianne Thompson, the chief executive of Camelot, commented, "Camelot runs one of the most cost-efficient and successful lotteries in the world, and we have achieved this through constant innovation. It is our proven ability to embrace change that will serve us best as we work on our bid for a third license." Camelot also announced that it would bid for its third Lottery license in 2006-07. This license would only be effective after its current one expires in January 2009.
Ms Thompson added, "Our strategy for the coming year will continue to focus on innovation by further developing our portfolio of games and extending the reach of The National Lottery through new channels of distribution."
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