Canberrans may be the most likely in the country to claim a charitable deduction, but they only give the average amount when their higher incomes are taken into account.
The country's most charitable people live in Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's electorate, according to new research by the Parliamentary Library on philanthropy by division.
''The electorate with the highest level of giving in 2006-07 was Wentworth, where the average gift deduction per taxpayer was $1624,'' it said.
''This was significantly higher than in any other Commonwealth electorate ... even when giving is expressed as a proportion of taxable income, Wentworth still ranked ahead of all other electorates with total gifts equal to 1.58per cent of total taxable income.''
Wentworth was also the top-ranked electorate for annual incomes, at an average $102,826.
The paper found the ACT had the highest proportion of taxpayers claiming deductions in their 2006-07 returns at 51per cent. This was well over the national average of 42 per cent. In total, Australians gave $1.47billion in gifts or about 0.36per cent of their taxable income.
Full story in today's Canberra Times
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