Thread by @willperrin

1. Today the @CharityTaxComm review of charity taxation comes out. I was, like dozens of others an advisor to the commission, focussing on transparency but have only now seen what they recommend.

2. The @CharityTaxComm is politely scathing about the state of data on how much tax concessions are worth and what impact they have. The blame lies mostly but not exclusively with HMRC

3. HMRC is asked to publish its list of organisations claiming tax relief as charities. My own research suggests they cite taxpayer confidentiality, the @CharityTaxComm says that HMRC has an 'excessively risk- averse culture that inhibits greater openness and reporting'

4. And Local Authorities are asked by the @CharityTaxComm to 'publish their business rates registers as open data, to a standardised format, using charity and company numbers collected during the application process.' so all can work out what's going on with charity shops

5. Larger charities should explain how much they gain from tax reliefs 'charities with revenue of over £1 million per annum should publish detailed information in their annual reports about the amount of benefit they receive from Gift Aid
and business rates relief.'

6. The @CharityTaxComm draws attention to the inevitable corollary of a dearth of data - a lack of research, making it very hard to perform evidence based policy

7. To me delivering on this set of recommendations is fundamental to explaining, modernising and even defending the current system of tax reliefs against the emerging critique crossing the Atlantic, explained so well by @Rhodri_H_Davies recently cafonline.org/about-us/blog-…

8. To make its case in the modern world the charity and philanthropy sector needs hard evidence about the scope, impact and distortionary effects of 'charity tax breaks'. The @CharityTaxComm flags up the potential for an #opendata revolution in the sector - lets get on with it.

9. So I have asked HMRC for its list of charities and other organisations recognised for tax purposes, citing the @CharityTaxComm report and asked that it be escalated to a level sufficiently senior to take a risk-managed rather than risk-averse decision whatdotheyknow.com/request/hmrc_d…