Stockholm, 19 May 2005
PRESS RELEASE
Right Livelihood Award Gains Explicit Tax-exempt Status
The Swedish Government has proposed to include the Right Livelihood Award Foundation in a small group of automatically tax-exempt organisations. With its charitable status now assured, the Foundation can look forward with confidence to continuing to present its 'Alternative Nobel Prize' in Stockholm and expanding its work in support of recipients.
The Swedish Government decided today in Stockholm that it will propose to the parliament that the Right Livelihood Award Foundation be included in the so-called Catalogue in the Swedish Income Tax Act. Organisations in the Catalogue (so far 33) enjoy a legally guaranteed tax exemption. The decision had become necessary because the Swedish Tax Authority had asked the foundation to pay tax, starting in 2001, based on a new and narrower interpretation of the definition of charitable activities. The 50-years old definition does not include activities like peace or environmental work.
Jakob von Uexkull, chairman and founder of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation comments the decision: "This is a strong commitment by Sweden to the Right Livelihood Award. We are grateful to the Government and Members of Parliament for their support. We could never understand why the tax authority no longer accepted that our work is charitable. The Government's decision and hopefully the Parliament's have settled these uncertainties once and for all."
This year is the 25th anniversary of the Right Livelihood Award. The award was founded in 1980 by Jakob von Uexkull, a Swedish-German philatelic expert, to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today. Since 1985, the award presentation takes place in the Swedish Parliament and the award has become known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize'. With the inclusion in the catalogue, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation now gains the same tax status as the Nobel Foundation, which is also listed there.
"The Foundation income covers its administrative costs but we depend on donations to be able to maintain the current prize sum of SEK 2 million per year", Uexkull explains. "The unclear tax situation during the past three years was deterring for donors, and our last option would have been to leave Sweden and continue our work in another country. Now, we are very happy to be able to continue to present the award in Sweden."
"We now plan to expand our activities: There are more than 100 Right Livelihood Award recipients from 50 countries, and we need to make their practical solutions to major world problems more widely known. The next major event will be a conference with all recipients in Salzburg, Austria, from June 8-13, 2005."
