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I mean, sure. I was more thinking about "I care about deforestation/child poverty/outlawing abortion/etc, so I'm gonna make sure my money goes there, and I won't even have to pay taxes on (that part of) it", with maybe a bit of "I own (many shares of) a company that does X, so why not suggest that the foundation prefers them as a supplier".
Like, that doesn't allow you to buy yachts with it, but if you're working with that kind of money, you probably have a yacht, or don't want one/another, and exerting influence is the most interesting thing you can use it for. The particular objective doesn't have to be harmful, but I feel that it gives very few people another way to excert outsized control on our world, and take revenue away from the state, which might also waste it, but over which the people should, theoretically, be able to excert more influence than on a very wealthy individual.
But that's a tax advantage anyone can have access to by giving money to the charity of their choice.
The tax advantage, yes, the control, no. I like giving to doctors without borders, but I can't control their objectives, nor their leadership.
In the end, my problem is with giving power to individuals who can't be held accountable. The tax part was mostly an excuse to rant about that.
I can’t hire my friends to run my charity and pick their salary
But then your friend would pay taxes on that income so your money ends up being taxed.
Not really how percentages work my dude, still less going to the govt
It's still exactly the same as contributing to any other charity that has paid employees and everyone has access to the tax deduction that comes with doing this kind of contribution.
If I donate to a charity, I can’t hire my friend and pay them a 6 figure salary. No idea how it’s even similar.
It's the same thing because your money goes somewhere, you get a tax rebate, someone gets a salary, they pay taxes on that money.
You can create a non profit charity, hire your friend and pay their salary if you want, you're 100% free to do that.
Ok, let me walk you through the math. I have avoided 100k of my tax burden by donating 100k to my charity. I pay my employee that money. They pay an effective tax rate of 20%. The government gets 20k of my original tax rate. My nonprofit grooms and breeds gerbils. I created this nonprofit that does not exist because I love gerbils. Now the US govt has more gerbils and lost 80k in tax revenue.
But that’s the same as me donating to the ACLU or some shit?
The government hasn't lost 80k unless you're taxed at 100%.
You donate 100k, you get 20k back in tax rebate as that's what you paid in taxes on that 100k, you're still down 80k!
The charity then pays an employee 100k, they pay 20k in taxes.
The charity is down to 0$, you're 80k in the hole, that employee has 80k in their pocket and the government has 20k.
The only difference is the taxation rate not being the same if you made 200k and kept it to yourself or if you kept 100k and donated 100k to a charity that then paid an employee 100k.
Moving money through charities doesn't make you richer and is probably the worst way to do "tax evasion" when we know the people who do this also have the means to simply hide everything in tax havens.
You donate 100k, you get a 100k tax break...
https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/charitable-contribution-deductions
Maybe you're confused by the limit of how much of your AGI can be deducted?
That does not mean you claim 30% of the donation
...
Ok, so YOU don't understand how taxes work.
The 100k tax write off doesn't mean you get 100k back, it means you don't have to pay taxes on that 100k.
If your income is high enough that you have to pay 30% taxes on that 100k that's 30k you don't need to pay to the State. If it was paid already (through standard deductions every two weeks by your employer) you get it back when you fill your taxes at the end of the year, if it wasn't paid already (because you're self employed) they just don't charge you for it.
Your taxes at the end of the year are based on your total income minus all tax deductible spendings you made, may it be stuff for your job or sending money to charity. If you make 100k/year and give 20k to charity they adjust everything so the total amount you paid in taxes is equivalent to if your income had been 80k.
I work in that field bud, I think you can stop arguing now.
That’s cute, you misread a basic article about US taxes and now refuse to read anything I’ve linked lol.
You’re stating fallacies that are debunked in my links from the IRS. But if you think the IRS is lying about tax law, by all means, link me your references
100% of your donation is tax deductible, that's exactly what it fucking means, you get what you paid in taxes back on 100% of your donation!
It reduces your taxable income, it means your taxes are calculated based on your income minus that amount, nowhere does any of your links say you get the equivalent of your donation back.
How come they get 38m back if they gave 130m worth to charity? Hmmm it's as if... You only get back the taxes applicable to the amount!
Fucking hell man.
No, that’s not how it works. PLEASE read the article or poke around the IRS website on your own. It does not count against your income, it counts directly against the taxable amount you owe.
How about YOU check the IRS website
https://www.irs.gov/credits-and-deductions-for-individuals#:~:text=A%20deduction%20is%20an%20amount,them%20in%20the%20right%20forms.
https://marshalljones.com/how-much-do-charitable-donations-reduce-taxes/
How to Calculate the Tax Benefits of Donating to a NonprofitSo how much do you get back with tax deductible donations? You can determine your savings from making charitable donations with this straightforward calculation. Multiply your marginal tax rate by the value of your contributions.For example, if your rate is 32% and you contributed $10,000 in cash, goods or both, you’ll end up saving $3,200 at tax time.Is that dumbed down enough for you? You give 10k, you get back 3.2k, your donation cost you 6.8k at the end of the day.
If all of it goes to salary it becomes taxable income for the person getting it so they pay taxes on that 10k.
It's why the people donating 130m got 38m back and if you had taken the time to read the article you would have realized that the 38m was spread over multiple years because the government doesn't just hand money, they reduce your taxable income to zero and then the rest carries over to the next year until you reach zero dollars left of your donation. In their case the 130m donation still cost them 92m compared to selling it to a private party for the same price!
The IRS granted the foundation tax-exempt status. That allowed the Johnsons to collect more than $38 million in tax savings from the estate over five years, confidential tax records show.Well fuck me