AidChoice: Give the People who Pay for Aid a Voice in Spending It

AidChoice is our name for a simple idea that would empower taxpayers1 to allocate funding to international development projects listed on a website up to a ceiling (say, £100 per taxpayer) and deduct that payment in full from their tax bill. Taxpayers would simply quote their national insurance numb...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2016
Main Authors: Barder, Owen, Talbot, Theodore
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Budgets/Expenditures
Center for Global Development
Foreign aid
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:AidChoice is our name for a simple idea that would empower taxpayers1 to allocate funding to international development projects listed on a website up to a ceiling (say, £100 per taxpayer) and deduct that payment in full from their tax bill. Taxpayers would simply quote their national insurance number at the time they make the donation through a recognised platform, and HMRC would reduce their tax bill accordingly. AidChoice would reallocate aid without reducing the UK's overall spending on aid: it would not reduce the total size of the UK's commitment to tackling poverty overseas. It would be inexpensive to implement, and an initial trial with a low cap could easily scaled up if the scheme proves to be popular and successful (based on evidence from a rigorous evaluation). Pairing the trial with an evaluation framework would enable officials to track efficacy and observe where taxpayers chose to allocate aid when it is in their control. Enabling taxpayers to allocate their share of the development budget would enhance the relationship between organisations that use aid and the people who pay for it. It would encourage greater local support for the foreign aid agenda and offer unconstrained contributions to innovative organisations. And competition for this valuable source of funding should encourage implementing agencies to provide a compelling proposition to their stakeholders by showing that they can deliver value for money.