So, after needlessly offending Britain’s philanthropists by calling them tax dodgers, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has sensibly abandoned his plans to limit the tax deductibility of their giving. This U-turn is embarrassing for the government, certainly, but not as harmful as it would have been to its efforts to promote a Big […]
Last year we made a set of predictions for 2010. Some were satisfyingly prescient – the surge in mega-giving we predicted for 2010 became a reality through the Buffett-Gates Giving Pledge (even if we were off the mark in betting on Steve Jobs rather than Larry Ellison to be the Gates business rival who would step up to major philanthropy). […]
While the overall reaction to this week’s Giving Pledge has been positive, there have been a few critical voices. Rather than knocking the generosity of the individual billionaires, critics have focused on the wider questions about inequality, taxation and plutocracy. These are important issues that we discuss in detail in the book. As we argue, there […]
Another reviewer has noticed that there is currently some trouble in capitalism, which may have big implications for our hopes for a golden age of philanthrocapitalism. This time, a blogger at Foreign Policy magazine is worried that philanthrocapitalism may prove to be a passing fad, as “the financial and political situations have changed/are changing in […]