GIFT AID
If you pay tax, Gift Aid is a scheme by which you can give a sum of money to the Parish and the Parish can reclaim from the Inland Revenue basic rate tax on your gift. That increases the value of the gift you make.
For example, if you give £100 throughout the year using Gift Aid, that gift is worth £128.21 to the Parish. The Parish therefore benefits by £28.21 for every £100 given, at no extra cost to YOU.
You can make payments by cash, cheque or postal order, or by setting up a Standing Order with the Bank. (A copy of the Standing Order form is available if required)
You can give any amount, large or small, regular or one-off, and the Parish can reclaim the tax.
For your gift to qualify for Gift Aid you must:
Pay at least as much tax as the Parish will reclaim on your gifts in the tax year in which you make them. (The tax year runs from 6 April in one year to 5 April in the next). The tax you have paid can be income tax, capital gains tax, tax paid on a pension, a dividend income or even tax deducted from your savings (provided you have not reclaimed this).
Make a declaration to the Parish that you want your gift to be treated as a Gift Aid donation. You have to make a declaration, as the declaration is the Parish's authority to reclaim tax from the Inland Revenue on your gift. By giving the declaration, you are confirming that you understand this. (A copy of the declaration form is available if required). You only have to make one declaration and this will cover any gift you may make in the future.
If you wish to stop your donations or if you think that your gifts should no longer be within Gift Aid because you no longer pay sufficient tax to cover the tax that the Parish reclaims, you can cancel your declaration at any time. The cancellation will take effect from the time the Parish receives your letter.
If you wish your weekly collection money to be processed through the Gift Aid scheme then you must either use the planned giving envelopes, pay by cheque or by Standing Order. This is a requirement of the Inland Revenue so that the amounts we claim upon can be linked to the person who has given them. (If you require a set of envelopes for the coming year then these will be provided).
The figures for the 200012001 tax year give an idea of how much the Parish benefits from the Gift Aid scheme.
The parishioners who made Gift Aid declarations within the year made total donations of £5818.81.
This meant that the Parish could reclaim £1559.08 from the Inland Revenue. This is money that did not cost those participants a penny extra but which would have been lost to the Parish if they had not made their Gift Aid declarations.
If there are any Parishioners who pay tax and have not signed a Gift Aid declaration then I would strongly urge them to do so. The benefits to the Parish are enormous and, with the amount of work that needs to be done on the Church and Presbytery in the future, the additional income is essential.
If you wish to sign a declaration then please speak to Father Pannell or Paul/Nichola McCay and we will set things up for you for the coming Financial Year.
Paul McCay
LETTER TO A TEACHER
Dear Teacher,
I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness:
Gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians.
Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and children shot and burned by high school
and college graduates. So I am suspicious of education.
My request is:
Help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.
Reading, writing, arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.