gift aid and higher rate relief

[munky]

Quick question about higher rate relief on charitable donations..

If I'm a higher rate taxpayer and earn £166.67, the marginal tax is £66.67 and the net is £100. So far so good. Now I donate the £100 to a charity, and the charity also gets gift aid of £25 so a total of £125, which would be the gross earned for a basic rate taxpayer (£100/(1-20%))

Now from the website http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Ma...
it seems that the higher rate relief (claimed via self assessment) is £25, i.e. the "other" 20%. So that's £50 back from the government in all. However I actually paid £66.67 income tax. Where is the other £16.67 - presumably the govt keeps it - so am I right in saying that for higher rate taxpayers, not all the tax is 'refunded' on donations?

thanks

[Eric Mc]

You are correct.

Higher Rate ax relief on Gift Aid comes back to the taxpayer, not the charity.

[munky]

Eric Mc said:

You are correct.

Higher Rate ax relief on Gift Aid comes back to the taxpayer, not the charity.

but how much comes back to the taxpayer on a £100 donation, £25 or £41.67?

Or put another way.. is the total tax refund (£25 gift aid + £x higher rate relief) actually equal to the tax paid on earning the £100 (which would be £66.67 at the margin - I know that on average it could be less depending how far over the higher rate threshold one is)