Lighthearted- help me understand the logic

[TeabySea]

I volunteer in a charity shop.
Last week a customer came in and asked about making a donation of larger items.
I explained we can sell them, thanked them for thinking of us and suggested days when we had more staff so we could help unload their car when they bring the items.
In passing, I asked if they were signed up to gift aid.
Customer said no, and they were not going to because they donated to other charities, and one of those was 'the soldiers '. They went on about this for some time.
I just said okay, not a problem. (I'm not going to force people to sign up to anything)
But - I don't understand. What has donating to charity A and gift aiding that donation got to do with donating to charity B?

I expect he didn’t know what GiftAid is and thought that you were trying to sign him up for something like a regular donation subscription.

Signing up to gift aid causes massive complications if you need to go onto benefits. You need to list all the occasions you have signed up to gift aid over a certain length of time, and it MUST be accurate. I second only signing up to a small number of regular charities to gift aid to, and keeping close track, if you are in a situation where you may have to go onto benefits any time soon.

yep, or this

I did say it didn't cost anything, but was being careful to not sound as though it was something they had to do.

Thanks. I wasn't aware of this.
From how the person was talking (as in, during the general conversation about donations and the items they had) it didn't sound as though employment was a concern, but obviously, we can't know the extent of people's circumstances.
That does give an insight.

Hm it does sound like crossed wires in that moment.
However if you're asking people to sign up to gift aid you should surely be aware that one of the requirements is that you must have paid (or be going to pay) tax over that tax year at least equal to what's being claimed back.

You can only gift aid if you're a taxpayer (it's amazing how many charity shop employees have tried to get me to sign up for Gift Aid even after I've explained I'm not a taxpayer - not saying this is you, obviously!).

Also, the amount you gift aid in a tax year (the amount that charities reclaim) cannot be higher than the amount of tax you pay in that year (CGT plus income tax). If this lady doesn't pay much tax and is already gift aiding donations to other charities, then she may be worried about going over that limit.

Or she may just be a bit confused.

I don't sign up to gift aid because although I pay tax I don't pay that much. And I had a scary email saying because I donated £10 for something my gift aid contribution was higher than the tax I pay or something

I should stress that I never push it. I will ask a person who looks below retirement age if they gift aid with us, and if not, would they maybe consider it. If they say no, then I leave it at that.