Charitable organisations derive income from various sources - directly through voluntary donations provided by individual people, and indirectly through funds provided by the state.

It is perhaps natural to wonder why the state is required to finance these organisations when it is individual people who vote for government in the first place and pay for its spending via their taxes.

To what extent do charities benefit from such government intermediation? In several European countries, a small charity tax forms an integral part of standard fiscal policy.

The purpose of this study is to ask whether such mandatory payments to charity would lead to higher contributions than a system of purely voluntary donations.

The full article is now available for you to read below. What do you think? Should we let the governments add a tax or make charities ask for money? Let us know in the comments box.