As the holiday season approaches most of us think about making some donations to the less fortunate. Phone call heat up with organizations seeking aid. If only to drop some money in a Salvation Army box at the local shopping centers, Americans are a generous group.
Overall total giving in the US was down a record 5.7% in 2008. The economy made it hard to give until it hurts when it’s hurting already.
Undaunted by that President Obama changed the tax laws to discourage giving. The old IRS rules allowed families making more than $250,000 to take a tax deduction of up to $350 for every $1,000 they donated. Now, it’s capped at $280 for every $1,000. It was possible to avoid taxes on 35% of the donations but now it’s 28%.
The statistics for 2009 aren’t available yet, but surely between the economy and the Grinch, 2009 will be much worse than the dismal 2008 for people who depend on help from charities.
It makes perfect sense to me if you are a President who wants to redistribute wealth to cut charitable giving. He wants the people who depend on charities to depend on their government. That gets him votes.
The real question remains who can get that money to those needy people the most efficiently. The charities who have been doing it well for years or the Federal Government? I would be very surprised if any of that tax money that will be collected will ever go to the needy. Or, if any tax money is even collected, since people will give less and the government will get less.
Another example of how efforts to turn the US into the former Soviet Union backfire. Everyone loses.
