world now

Family grateful after escaping avalanche that crushed car

By JAN MINAGAWA and JOE FRYER / KING 5 News
PASCO, Wash. — A family is amazed they survived after their car was almost buried by an avalanche along Interstate 90, five miles east of the Snoqualmie Pass summit Wednesday.
Randall Parker, 51, his wife, Roxanna Parker, 42, and their two daughters, Arianna, 3, and Adria, 7, were traveling eastbound in the right lane when their car was slammed by a wall of snow.
"All I could remember is the noise of the crushing through the windshield and smashing into us," Randall Parker said.
The force of the snow slide pushed their 2006 Nissan Pathfinder into the concrete Jersey barrier, breaking the front window and causing the airbags to deploy, said the Washington State Patrol.
The four were taken by ambulance to Kittitas Valley Community Hospital for treatment. Roxanna is recovering from deep bruises to her chest caused by the heavy snow that broke through the windshield.
Randall suffered lacerations, and the girls, who were belted into their car seats, were not hurt.
The family members were released after being treated and are now back at home. Randall is amazed everyone survived with only minor injuries.
"Who do you credit for it?" he said "Obviously, God wasn't ready to take us yet."
Their vehicle, which Randall credits with saving their lives, was totaled.

Budget deal reached, government shutdown averted

WASHINGTON — Perilously close to a government shutdown, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reached a historic agreement late Friday night to cut about $38 billion in spending and avert the first federal closure in 15 years.
Obama hailed the deal as "the biggest annual spending cut in history." House Speaker John Boehner said that over the next decade it would cut government spending by $500 billion — and won an ovation from his rank and file, Tea Party adherents among them.
"This is historic, what we've done," agreed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the third man involved in negotiations that ratified a new era of divided government.
They announced the agreement less than an hour before government funding was due to run out, instantly turning hundreds of thousands of furlough notices for federal workers into historical relics.
The shutdown would have closed national parks, tax-season help lines and other popular services, though the military would have stayed on duty and other essential efforts such as air traffic control would have continued in effect.
"Tomorrow I'm pleased to announce that the Washington Monument, as well as the entire federal government, will be open for business and that's because today Americans of different beliefs came together again," Obama said late Friday.

Loans - Easily Available At Reasonable Rates

A loan can be defined as a debt created when one party borrows an asset from another and promises to return the same with some amount of interest within a stipulated period of time. Loans are usually cash or money based. Here the person/party receives or borrows the money and is hence called the borrower, the money borrowed is called the principle and the person from whom the money is borrowed is called the lender.
Cash loans are loans that involve the exchange of cash either through account transfers or direct lending. Here the criteria to be fulfilled in order to be able to avail a cash loan are basic – eighteen and above in age, active bank account and resident of the country. No extra documents are needed as this is the simplest form of a loan. Here repayment is predetermined and is usually in a day or within thirty days. These loans are targeted at the lower class of people who may not have any savings.
Commercial loans are loans that are offered to various types of business enterprises to assist them with their short term fund requirements. It is a short term source of cash for a business which maybe used to meet the payroll, buy new machinery etc. The creditworthiness of the borrowing entity is usually pre-checked before granting such a loan. The advantage of such a loan is that banks offer very competitive rates of interest due to its popularity and high demand.
Consolidation loans are loans that used to pay off other pending loans. They are useful as they are available at a low interest rate and a person has to worry about paying off just one loan instead of various loans separately. These loans are usually secured in nature and hence some collateral such as house or any sort of property comes into the picture which helps bring down the rate of interest. These loans are usually used to pay off credit card debts which carry a very high rate of interest.
Construction loans are loans that are used to finance construction projects and infrastructure creation projects. The defining feature of such a loan is the fact that the borrower needs to only pay the interest on the loan before and during the construction process and he has to start paying the principle amount only once the construction is complete and the project

Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/loans-articles/loans-easily-available-at-reasonable-rates-4231879.html

Have A Fun Summer With Car Title Loans

by: VANESSA MEAN

Summer vacations come once every year and it is because of this that summer vacations are planned ahead of time. Those who plan ahead, of course, would rather not expect unnecessary events to occur if only to hinder the break from pushing through. Planners would often consider factors that could affect the entire vacation experience such as the accessibility to the van, the place to sleep, road improvements, high-traffic along with other similar situations. So, they tend to look for alternatives, and hang a back-up plan-choosing another van in case the family van won't be available because of certain circumstances, an alternative place to sleep just in case there has been a big change of plans, different routes to take in case of road improvements and traffic situations. Events such as these are easily foreseeable, and when taken into account may be avoided.

Financial shortages, however, can be reasonably foreseen but frequently overlooked. A household usually saves money for summer vacations; however, such savings may be utilized in case of shortages in finances. The cash saved for vacations are often accustomed to meet these financial needs also, a household eventually ends up having to postpone the planned vacation. Of course, paying the bills for example phone bills, rent, electric power bills, credit card debt along with other expenses which need to be paid is much more important than using a vacation. It's therefore that vacation planners search for ways they could still push through using the vacation without sacrificing the payment of these necessary expenses.

One alternative which vacation planners can look into is really a car title loan. Unlike other loans, car title loans are temporary loans which can be utilized in a time such as the above-given situation. It is temporary since it doesn't need huge sums of money - that is nearly impossible to find - as well as the household to pay for in Thirty days. With the given allowance, this loan can actually even permit them to enjoy the holiday first. Simple summer vacations would not require considerable amounts of money that makes it easier to finance. It only takes a small amount of money and http://www.cartitleloans.net/ affect this sort of venture. It's also the fastest method of getting money to provide for other and all sorts of expenses, such as emergency needs.

A car title loan is a loan which uses a car as collateral. The family just must use their car's title in return for the loan and they are good to go. It is important to observe that they might still use the car after receiving the money they require - the car wouldn't be held hostage in a car title loanas opposed to other loans which require its physical transfer. As a result, the household reaches use their car before repaying the loan. Besides a household keep their car, but more to the point, they are doing so while enjoying the holiday! Oh, the benefit of car title loans!

Seeing what car title loans will offer, you should think about this alternative when you're facing an identical situation. As a vacation planner, let no financial difficulty hinder your loved ones from having a wonderful vacation. Vacations like these don't have to be expensive - an easy summer vacation and a loan such as this are you'll need.
Article Source:
http://www.articlecity.com/articles/business_and_finance/article_15880.shtml

Is Michele Bachmann the new Sarah Palin? Republicans warm to woman they once saw as a joke

By Alex Spillius, Washington

Until last week Michele Bachmann was considered something of a joke by members of Washington's Republican establishment. But after announcing that she was almost certainly running for US president, their smiles quickly vanished.

A Tea Party favourite, Mrs Bachmann is a former tax lawyer who many moderates in the party think could prove its biggest liability in the forthcoming primary for the 2012 nomination.

Her gift of the gaffe is such that a leading Republican consultant recently said that she made Sarah Palin look like Count Metternich.

That was after Bachmann mistakenly placed Lexington and Concord, scenes of the first battles in the American War of Independence, in the state of New Hampshire, where she was speaking at the time. They are in fact in Massachusetts, as every US schoolchild knows.

Rarely shy of a conspiracy theory, she has suggested that Democrats wanted to do away with the dollar, and during the Iraq war claimed to have knowledge of a plot to annex part of the country to Iran.
source

Libyan Rebels Retake Key City as Coalition Steps Up Attacks

By Alaa Shahine

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Libyan rebels moved into the central city of Ajdabiya, near the strategic oil port of Ras Lanuf, and recaptured Brega in the east after U.S. and allied warplanes stepped up their bombardment of Muammar Qaddafi’s tanks, artillery and soldiers.

Opposition fighters, who have struggled to move west from their eastern stronghold of Benghazi in the past week, retook Ajdabiya today after entering the suburbs overnight, Al Jazeera television and the Benghazi-based Breniq newspaper reported. The advance came after the U.S. military yesterday said coalition warplanes nearly doubled the number of strike sorties against Qaddafi’s forces in a seventh day of bombing.

The Libyan rebellion has evolved from the kind of popular uprising seen in Egypt and Tunisia into a civil war, sending oil prices up about 25 percent since it began last month, amid heightened concerns about Middle East crude supplies. Crude oil for May delivery fell 20 cents to settle at $105.40 a barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Syrian President Bashar Al- Assad’s security forces engaged in deadly clashes with protesters in several cities as promises of new freedoms and pay increases failed to quiet dissent. Assad may reshuffle his Cabinet soon, Al Arabiya television reported today, citing people it didn’t identify.

Prisoners Freed

Syrian authorities have released 260 political prisoners, mostly Islamists, according to Al Arabiya, which cited unnamed human-rights activists. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a local group, said on its website that the authorities have freed more than 200 prisoners.

Homes were burned and heavy gunfire was reported in the coastal Syrian city of Latikia, where two people were killed by snipers, Al Arabiya reported, citing eyewitnesses and a government official. In Daraa, the scene of deadly anti- government rallies earlier this month, security forces used tear gas against demonstrators, it said.

In Yemen, Al Arabiya reported that President Ali Abdullah Saleh said no compromise was reached with Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, who said earlier that he’d hoped to reach an agreement today on Saleh’s departure following months of anti- government demonstrations and the defection of ministers, army generals and diplomats from his regime.

Battle for Misrata

The U.S. and allies such as France and the U.K. are enforcing a United Nations mandate to protect Libyan civilians. Leaders have also called for Qaddafi’s ouster and the coalition has been seeking to push back his forces from cities such as Ajdabiya and Misrata, a rebel-held town in western Libya.

Sadoon al-Misrati, a member of the 17 February Revolution, told Al Jazeera that rebels repelled efforts by fighters loyal to Qaddafi to enter Misrata, Libya’s third-biggest city, from two directions. Rebels also said they had recaptured Brega in eastern Libya, Al Jazeera reported.

Libyan state-run television accused the U.S.-led allied forces of causing a “massacre” among civilians in Ajdabiya as their warplanes sought to provide air cover to the rebels.

Footage on Al Jazeera showed abandoned tanks, some charred, on the eastern entrance of Ajdabiya. A group of rebels was shown celebrating, waving victory signs and one of them brandishing an automatic rifle.

‘Scores of Prisoners’

“There are scores of prisoners,” Yassin El-Bregi, a spokesman for the rebel’s ruling council, told Al Arabiya in a live interview from Cairo.

The White House announced yesterday that President Barack Obama will address the nation on March 28 about the U.S. and allied military action in Libya. The U.S. is shifting many of its flight activities to allies, U.S. Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, said yesterday at a briefing at the Pentagon.

Two Arab countries, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have both confirmed that they are sending fighter jets to help enforce the no-fly zone.

The 28-nation North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreed on March 24 to take command of no-fly zone operations while continuing to discuss conditions for also commanding the attacks on Qaddafi’s ground forces, the so-called no-drive zone for the loyalist military that is considered part of the civilian defense measures authorized by the UN Security Council.

“Without prejudging the deliberations, we would expect a decision to take over all operations in the next few days,” NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told reporters yesterday in Brussels.

--With assistance from Kaitlin Brower in New York, Zaid Sabah Abd Alhamid and Nadeem Hamid in Washington. Editors: Jennifer M. Freedman, Digby Lidstone
via :http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-26/libyan-rebels-retake-key-city-as-coalition-steps-up-attacks.html

Sullinger: ‘I’m coming back next year’

By Blake Williams
After falling short of the team goal of a national championship with a loss to Kentucky in the Sweet 16 on Friday, the Ohio State men's basketball team received some positive news: Freshman forward Jared Sullinger confirmed his plans to return for his sophomore season.

"I'm coming back next year because I have to work on — a lot of things — and I don't like the taste that I just had," the freshman said to reporters after the loss. "I don't appreciate losing. I never appreciate losing and I'm going to come back to win."

Sullinger led the Buckeyes in points and rebounds per game with 17.1 and 10, respectively. The Freshman of the Year award winner is also one of four finalists for the Naismith Award, handed out to the best basketball player in the country.

Accolades aside, Sullinger's motivation to return was simple.

"The love of this basketball team makes me want to come back," he said. "These guys are my brothers."

OSU coach Thad Matta was not surprised by his freshman's vow to return.

"He told me from day one he'd be back for two years," he said. "I think all the things he learned this year, with a great offseason, I have no doubt he'll be the best player in college basketball (next year)."

Sullinger tallied 21 points and 16 rebounds in the team's loss to the Wildcats on Friday. The double-double was the forward's 18th in 37 games.

It was not those numbers or the team's 34 wins that made Sullinger's choice an easy one, but rather the loss to the Wildcats. The freshman plans on getting right back to work.

"I know I am going to be back in the gym as soon as we get back," he said.

Despite being widely projected as a top-five pick, Sullinger was adamant that he would not be swayed by the NBA.

"I'll be in an Ohio State jersey next year," he said. "It's my personal choice and I want to come back and serve this basketball team and play for Matta."

Sullinger has until April 24 to submit his name to the NBA draft, but said he is not interested in even testing the waters.

OSU junior guard William Buford said he plans to return, but might look into the NBA by entering his name. If he does, he will have until May 8 to withdraw it and retain his college eligibility. Buford, however, doesn't think he is ready to play professionally.

"I'll be back," he said. "I just want to get better so when I do go, I'll be prepared to make an impact and not just go to be a player in the league."

If both players return, OSU will retain its top two scorers and top rebounder from the 2010–11 season, along with the team leader in assists, freshman point guard Aaron Craft.

Though he was emotional after the team's tough loss, Sullinger said he did not take the decision lightly and was clear that he would not renege on his choice.

"I'm a man of my word," he said. "I won't change my mind for anybody. This is what I want. This is where I'm happy. I'm happy being an Ohio State Buckeye and playing for coach Matta."
via http://www.thelantern.com/sports/sullinger-i-m-coming-back-next-year-1.2125155

Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79

By Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY

Elizabeth Taylor died Wednesday at the age of 79. The Academy Award-winning actress was as famous for being famous as she was for her acting career. Her philanthropic and charity work, particularly in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, kept her in the spotlight long after her acting career had all but ended.

Britney Spears Rocks Leather Bodysuit at Surprise Show

Brit's Back!

In a sexy leather bodysuit, Britney Spears thrilled more than a thousand fans with a surprise mini-concert at the Rain Nightclub in the Palms Las Vegas Friday night.

PHOTOS: Brit through the years

With back-up dancers clad in army fatigues, Spears, 29, debuted songs from her upcoming Femme Fatale album including "Hold it Against Me," "Till the World Ends," and "Big Fat Bass." It was the first live show for the mother of two since her 2009 Circus Tour.

PHOTOS: Britney and her boys

"We are extremely excited to have one of the most iconic artists of all time back at the Palms," owner George Maloof told UsMagzine.com in statement. "Britney's performances were unbelievable and her fans will never forget this night."

PHOTOS: Pics from the Circus Tour

The show wasn't a complete surprise. After rumors began circulating yesterday, the singer wrote on her Twitter page: "Looks like my little secret isn't a secret anymore... You're all invited. Be there or be square b****!"
source

Some builders, mortgage lenders offer home buyers a deal: free job-loss insurance

By Kenneth R. Harney, Friday, March 25, 1:42 PM

Homebuilders are offering it to new buyers, and some of the country’s largest banks and mortgage lenders think it’s a win-win idea for shaky economic times: insurance programs that make borrowers’ mortgage payments for up to six months if they lose their jobs during an initial one-year to two-year coverage period.
Better yet, the bank, builder or other sponsor of the plan typically provides it with no direct, out-of-pocket cost to the consumer, as part of its marketing package. Most programs come with specific dollar ceilings on coverage, often ranging from $2,000 to $2,500 a month. Some limit the amount they will pay to principal and interest only. Others cover principal, interest, property taxes and hazard insurance up to a specific amount.

Although there are no hard statistics on the number of such plans now in the marketplace, Teri Cooper, executive vice president of Mortgage Payment Protection of Heathrow, Fla., one of the largest providers of “involuntary unemployment” policies, estimates that as many as 200,000 buyers are covered by her firm’s “Mortgage Guardian” programs alone.
Bank of America, which operates a “borrower protection plan” that it funds itself, says it has covered thousands of new mortgages — limited to those with initial principal balances under $500,000. According to bank spokesman Terry H. Francisco, the plan has covered $110 million in monthly payments for unemployed borrowers during the past two years. Last year, the bank provided 156,000 purchasers with its protection program; as of December, mortgages covered by the plan totaled $36 billion in loan balances.

In the Seattle-Puget Sound market, Quadrant Homes, a subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser Real Estate, recently began offering a 24-month, $2,000 to $2,500 insurance plan as a way to reassure buyers that they would be able to withstand an unexpected job loss.

With unemployment figures scarily high, said Quadrant President Ken Krivanec, “we wanted to give our buyers a little of the confidence they might need” to move ahead with a purchase.

Even though virtually all involuntary unemployment programs charge borrowers nothing for the coverage directly, there often is plenty of fine print that limits payouts. Here’s a quick look at some of the features that buyers and borrowers should focus on when they’re offered free job-loss mortgage insurance.
lObviously nothing is truly “free.” The lender or builder typically is paying a wholesale insurance premium to obtain the coverage, and rolls that expense into the deal somewhere. In the case of Mortgage Guardian’s programs, premiums range from $200 to $300 or more per policy, depending on the expected volume of insurance, the length of the coverage and the size of the insured monthly payment.

lNot all unemployment events are equal. Under most plans, you need to be eligible under state law for unemployment benefits, and you need to successfully apply for them. Also, the layoff or plant closing or other event cannot have been known to you in advance of the mortgage closing. Firings and dismissals for cause are not covered.

lNot all employment is equal, either. For example, if you are self-employed or a temporary or seasonal worker, you probably won’t be eligible for benefits.

lOnce you’ve gone to closing and the insurance policy clock begins ticking, there’s a 60-day “vesting” period in the Mortgage Guardian program. Then insurance payments can’t flow until 30 days after the actual unemployment begins.

l“Free” turns into not-free or maybe not even available. For virtually all programs, once the initial period of coverage is up, homeowners are expected to pay premiums on their own or to look elsewhere for insurance. Bank of America’s plan, for instance, is free for the first year, but after that, extended coverage is available at the rate of 7.5 percent of the monthly principal and interest due, according to Francisco. In Quadrant’s program, “coverage ends 24 months after the closing date and cannot be extended by the buyer or Quadrant Homes.”

Another key fact to keep in mind about job loss insurance for mortgages: It is generally not available direct to the consumer. Cooper says her firm works only through participating lenders, builders, mortgage insurers and some state housing agencies that can create the volume of business needed to make the insurance risk-pooling feasible.

Bottom line: If you understand the limitations, and read the fine print, job-loss coverage can be a “why not?” proposition. The builder or lender offering it is paying premiums at rates unavailable to individual consumers, and the coverage — if you qualify — is for real if you suddenly find yourself without employment.

kenharney@earthlink.net
via : http://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/some-builders-mortgage-lenders-offer-home-buyers-a-deal-free-job-loss-insurance/2011/03/21/AF9F4nWB_story.html

Streamline Mortgage Refinancing for a New Homeowner Loan

Posted by Jeff Jankowski
Interest rates continue to be on a downward trend since the year has started and for consumers, this is the best time to take advantage; enabling them to settle for any loan refinancing. Nevertheless, experts advise homeowners to opt for streamline mortgage when refinancing.

Generally, streamline mortgage refinancing is used by homeowners to determine their qualifications for a specific loan. What many homeowners do not know is that, this kind of refinancing could also be a good option of cutting costs for new mortgage amount.

Using streamline mortgage when refinancing offers homeowners with VA or FHA loans, refinancing options without any credit card check involvement. Refinancing through streamline mortgage does not also involve income verification and fees for property appraisals.

Homeowners who would like to avail such refinancing should at least have the refinanced loan lower than the current interest rate paid on a current mortgage. In addition, using streamline loan do not allow homeowners to take equity out of his home. Late payments are also not allowed within twelve months, starting from the date of application. Other requirements under streamline refinancing include; FHA insured mortgage and the mortgage to be refinanced should be current.

By and large, streamline refinancing primarily focuses on the bulk of documentation and insurance support executed by lenders, thus, may apply specific transactional charges. The positive outcome of this is that, streamline refinancing could allow homeowners to shift to a fixed home loan with a minimal document processing or transition fee.
http://www.dailyrosetta.com/streamline-mortgage-refinancing-for-a-new-homeowner-loan/11437.html

800 priceless Egypt artefacts still missing

By AFP
CAIRO, March 25, 2011 (AFP) - Egyptian officials said on Friday that 800 priceless artefacts were still missing after armed robbers raided a warehouse near the canal city of Ismailiya in the unrest following a popular revolt.

"An inventory of the East Qantara warehouse which houses antiquities from the provinces on the Suez Canal and Sinai has revealed the theft and damage of a large number of artefacts," said Mohamed Abdel Maqsood, an official with Supreme Council of Antiquities for north east Egypt.

"We found that 800 antiquities-- which go back to the Pharaonic, Roman and Islamic periods-- are still missing from the warehouse after 293 items were recovered," he said.

Abdel Maqsood said the survey also revealed that "several" artefacts unearthed by French, American and Polish archaeological teams had also been stolen.

Robbers raided several warehouses around the country, including the one in Cairo's world renowned Egyptian Museum, after an uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak gave way to looting and insecurity.

On Tuesday, the United Nations cultural body UNESCO voiced growing concern for Egypt's archaeological sites and museums.

Elizabeth Taylor's fortune may approach $1B

(CBS News)

Elizabeth Taylor left more than her historic Hollywood legacy when she died Wednesday at 79.

It's believed she was worth between $600 million and $1 billion, most of it, according to Bloomberg Businessweek Senior Editor Diane Brady, from the side of her few fans realized had grown so big - Liz Taylor, businesswoman.

Brady says Taylor was actually "one of the first people out there basically branding her personality."

On "The Early Show on Saturday Morning," Brady told co-anchor Rebecca Jarvis estimates of the size of Taylor's fortune fall in a "pretty broad range. You are hearing a billion. You're hearing $600 million. I think $600 million seems to be what most people are settling on.

Special Section: Elizabeth Taylor's Remarkable Career, Life

"But, you know, clearly, they're auctioning off her jewelry collection. They think that's going to be about $150 million. She had real estate that was worth at least $130 million.

"But a lot of the money she made was actually in her perfume business. She had costume jewelry.

"This was an entrepreneur. So it wasn't just an actress who amassed a fortune. She was one of the first people out there basically branding her personality."

Brady noted that Taylor "came to Hollywood during a very interesting time. She used to call herself 'MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the major movie studio) chattel' because, right up to 1961, she was basically under studio contract. Then she started to make big money in Hollywood.
"But the perfume business was where she made a lot of her money - even last year, $77 million in sales. A lot of that was White Diamonds (the perfume). ... She was somebody who understood the power of her celebrity and started leveraging it more than 20 years ago."

White Diamonds, Brady says, "is, I think, the best-selling perfume brand of any celebrity. Right now, it's ubiquitous. ... You cannot be a celebrity without having a fragrance attached to you. But she was one of the first to do that, and she was one of the first to get into costume jewelry. She really was a pioneer in that area. She did make money, obviously made a lot of money in the movies. She was the first woman to get $1 million for a movie. But, the reality is, she made most of her money as an entrepreneur."

So what happens to that money now?

"That's a very good question. You've heard, 'Will it go to the dog?' 'Will it go to the manager?' 'Will it go to the kids?' There is a sense a lot of her money will go toward AIDS. That was obviously something that was a big cause of hers. She raised more than $270 million for that through her foundation. Four children, I'm sure she'll give some of it to them. But realistically, I think that a lot of it will go toward the research that she felt was very important."

And Taylor isn't finished hauling in big bucks, Brady pointed out.

"Michael Jackson made a lot of money last year. That's why they have the dead celebrities list -- I hate to say it but, Elizabeth Arden has already come out and said, 'We're going to continue selling this fragrance, these perfumes.' They will be very popular. The family can obviously make money off licensing (Taylor's) image. I think we'll see a lot of money made for and from Liz Taylor for years to come."

Can Taylor surpass Jackson in post-death earnings?

"There's a catalog there (for Jackson). There's music. So, it's a different business model. But clearly, she is a name that resonated long after she was in the movies. So I think you'll expect, for probably a generation to come, we'll be seeing Liz Taylor out there, and there will be money to be made from that."
source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/26/earlyshow/saturday/main20047484.shtml

Elizabeth Taylor: a look back

Budget 2011: Was it really good news for charities?

A major anomaly in Gift Aid regulations was resolved. Hitherto, charities could claim back the income tax on donations only if they knew the name and address of the tax-paying donor. Thanks to generous George they can now claim Gift Aid on the first five thousand pounds of 'orphan' or anonymous gifts as well: for the first time, tax can now be reclaimed on the contents of collection boxes, saucers or (if you're lucky) buckets - plus gifts from mysterious, anonymous benefactors.

That's bright and helpful. With the basic rate income tax at 20% the measure is worth up to £1,000 to every registered charity, whether they be Guide Dogs (income around £50 million) or the local allotments charity - assuming their income from donations, rather than from renting allotments, is as much as £5,000 in the first place. If every one of Britain's 170,000 charities claimed their £1,000 that would bring an extra £170 million into the coffers. But it won't happen. Lots of charities - especially amongst the 75% that Francis Maude keeps telling us won't suffer from Government cuts - don't have an annual income of £5,000 from donations: remember that trading income, subscriptions and gifts from known taxpayers are excluded from the calculation.

So smaller charities are less likely to claim the maximum help, bigger ones are less likely to need that extra grand. For charities that do gain from Osborne's openhandedness, there's a very big catch. Three years ago Labour delighted the pre-crisis nation by reducing basic rate income tax from 21p in the pound to 20p. All right for some, but not for charities as Gift Aid is related to that basic rate. So three years of protection was introduced for Gift Aid, meaning that for every pound charities received from known taxpayers the Treasury would continue to add 28p rather than the 25p that the new tax rate merited. (Note for Maths 101 students: £1.25 less 20% is £1, £1.28 less 21% is also £1).

That three years of protection runs out in April 2011, next week. It is estimated that charities will loose £100 million a year from that day and I bet my bottom dollar that this figure is higher than the new income the orphan gift measure will actually generate. Even if every charity did claim its grand, that income would be about a fifth of that which currently goes unclaimed through the Gift Aid claim process, according to the Charities Aid Foundation. The Government appears to be taking Giving seriously and a useful discussion was generated by a recent Green Paper. But another Budget measure the Government introduced is slightly weird, to say the least.

The Inheritance Tax threshold is £325,000. If you die tomorrow leaving an estate worth, say, £400,000 and bequeath £100,000 to charity, then instead of paying 40% tax on the balance you would get ten per cent of your tax back from the Chancellor (ie you would pay 36% tax on it). That's more money that goes to… well, to me, even though I'm dead. The charity may not see a penny of that 4% but they will see the value of Gift Aid on that £100,000 fall for the reasons explained above.

The measure requires a tenth of the estate to be donated as a minimum, so if you leave a £375,000 estate with £20,000 of inheritance tax payable and bequeath £37,500 to a charity then your inheritance tax liability will be reduced by £2,000 - from 2012. If this measure does work as an incentive to give more it will apply to precious few estates.

The Budget said nothing about living legacies, whereby the value of an asset such as a property or a work of art is transferred to a charity during my lifetime but the asset itself only upon my death. Living legacies have broad support and this is a missed opportunity. Come on, George, admit it: this was a giving with one hand, taking with the other Budget for charities as it was for so many others.

Tom Levitt is a freelance consultant on cross-sector partnerships. He established http://www.sector4focus.co.uk/ Sector 4 Focus in 2010 to specialise in bringing together businesses and charities to focus on the 'triple bottom line' of social responsibility in mutually beneficial ways. He was Labour MP for High Peak from 1997 to 2010.

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