Donors Debate Merits of Charity Tax Breaks
September 6, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Some donors and researchers have begun to question the wisdom of giving tax breaks for charitable donations, arguing that the causes individuals support are not those that do the most good, reports The New York Times.
The debate centers on two ideas. First, tax breaks effectively deny the government revenue that it could use on programs that benefit a large number of people, especially the poor.
Second, tax breaks encourage individuals to donate to private interests — often universities, museums, and other institutions with already large endowments — instead of poverty-relief or medical charities. Said one billionaire businessmen in the article: “A $30-million gift to a concert hall is not philanthropy, it is a Napoleonic coronation.”
The article also points out that the United States is one of the few countries in the world that offers tax breaks for donations, and that it gives a lot of latitude to what qualifies as “charitable.”
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