America tops the list of world’s most generous nations

[Stormdash]

it isnt in te otehr countries on the lsit so the other countries both pay their taxes and leave money for cahrity while some americans give money to charity to avoid paying taxes.

some rich people even have their own charities that spend most of their tiem with foundraising aprties isntead of actual cahrity work so they give money to their or their friends charity and the charity does a foundraising aprty for all of their friends completewith food hotells and travel paid to a nice vacation resort.

Or, maybe you're missing the trick and people have to mind their own dollars so closely when they are effectively punished by the government for giving it away by still being taxed for it. It's their money, after all, not the government's.

It's also an axiom of public policy, that anything you tax you will get less of it. It's the putative reason for taxing cigarettes, for example, to discourage smoking them. In the case of charity -- if you tax the dollars that people would otherwise donate to worthy causes, there will be less of those dollars donated.

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How about we start by ceasing the pretense that donations to religious organizations constitute charity.

What pretense? Objective facts not subject to rational disagreement are hardly pretense.

[ArguesWithStrangers]

Now take away donations to religious institutions in the form of mandatory tithes and what place is the US?

Because we don't have a state religion, no tithes are mandatory. Churches have no coercive power. We give to them of our own free will. So sorry to disappoint.

[Soeroah]

Does that really matter though? At least this way it ends up with the right cause and doesnt disappear in a black hole that is the government.

Course it matters. You can't claim to be a generous person if the main reason for giving is to benefit yourself rather than to help another.

[Elegiac]

It depends on the religious organization.

Most of the time, it doesn't; making donations to religious organizations tax deductible is effectively using public monies to subsidize them.

Now, there's a key exception when it comes to the preservation of cultural heritage in the form of donations for restoration of art, buildings, and the like. But people like the Salvation Army shouldn't get a cent deducted.

[Gorgodeus]

Does this include donations that conveniently dodge taxes?

Donations are tax deductible, so there is zero reason to "dodge taxes".

[Elegiac]

What pretense? Objective facts not subject to rational disagreement are hardly pretense.

The pretense that arises from religious organizations not being particularly charitable or being outright discriminatory.

Surely the faithful can stomach a slightly higher tax rate if they actually believe they are doing god's work.

[ArguesWithStrangers]

What pretense? Objective facts not subject to rational disagreement are hardly pretense.

It's ony charity if you give to causes they support.

[Elegiac]

That's what I just fucking said you fucking pedantic bunny.

Who on earth said I was disagreeing with you? Calm your tits.

[NED funded]

This is a complete crock. Do you honestly think private entities don't have vague or multitudinous objectives? Or that social services don't have clear goals?

Let's be real here, the issue is not whether or not it's efficient, the problem you lot have is the word 'government'.

Yes, but ultimately the public sector doesn't have to fear dying out, a fear that haunts private entities. Inefficiencies in the private system such as weak leadership, multitudinous objectives and what not are severely punished with death or fall into irrelevancy. This is not the case with the public sector, the government cannot afford for its services to crash and there is no other agency 2.0 waiting to take over. Also, because there is only one government, tertiarization doesn't work on the public sector. The government cannot just outsource all its non-vital services in which it is not good at. Something key in why economies of scale work.

Edit: I'm not even counting capture by special interests. I.E Laws that demand a minimum amount of workers.

[Merie]

America. We'll help your country fix up their roads even while ours are crumbling and laden with pot holes.

[ArguesWithStrangers]

How about we start by ceasing the pretense that donations to religious organizations constitute charity.

An act of charity is voluntarily giving of one's own resources to a person, group or cause you deem to be of need. Others agreeing with the need of that person, group or cause is irrelevant to the act. For example, if you give to Planned Parenthood, despite my moral objections, or the fact they already recieve significant government subsidy, it is still an act of charity, however misguided I might deem it.

[Zoldor]

Does this include donations that conveniently dodge taxes?

You mean like any donation to a 501(c)(3)? So, all donations for the most part of any substantial amount. Being mad that donations get a tax write off is ignorant. The law encourages donations, because guess what if they didn't they'd just hide the money another way.

Not all charities are great, but still it is better than them putting it in an Irrevocable Trust for their great great great grandchildren. But we could all by cynical instead.

This shouldn't shock anyone. We donate and do more for the rest of the world than any other country. Granted we do some fucked up shit as well, but at least we don't just do one thing. Better than just fucking shit up.

[Zoldor]

Course it matters. You can't claim to be a generous person if the main reason for giving is to benefit yourself rather than to help another.

Who cares about the pretense. Does the money go to the organization? Does the organization help those in need or fulfill the charities purpose? If yes, then who gives a shit why people give. Be they dickbags or truly altruistic the money still gets to the people who need it. The side effect that people feel better about themselves doesn't really matter that much to anyone but them and the people who want to judge them, good for all of you, what you are doing is absolutely pointless.

Some of you need to get out of your echo chambers or stop assuming every religious organization is Joel Osteen and Falwell. There are a lot of churches that do plenty of good with the donations they receive and their pastor (or whatever) doesn't live in a giant home and drive a Cadillac. It is as ignorant as claiming that people get abortions on the reg and don't give a fuck. This coming from an agnostic/atheist living in the south. The pinnacle of religion gets everything it wants. There are some solid religious organizations out there that do a lot of good work in their community and provide for people who have been forgotten or shit on.

[Sky High]

Kay, I’d take things that benefit me personally over the pittance that rich people dole out.

[d00mGuArD]

While there is still a lot of problems (like why the hell donating to a religious institution is considered a charity), But yeah, America does donate the most to charity, and i am not bashing the US but the study. America has the richest economy in the western world if we look at it overall. But again, what is a charity? Something like Children hospitals is something a lot is donated to in the US, and it is a great course, but in other countries that does not even exist as an option, as the healthcare facilities are already in place through taxes. Same with a lot of education. Why I say the study is flawed. A better study would be to compare how much is donated to solely, for example, cancer prevention and research, something that the US would most likely still rank top in, but at least it would be comparable.

That is 100000% incorrect. You can donate to healthcare and education institutes in any country

[ArguesWithStrangers]

Kay, I’d take things that benefit me personally over the pittance that rich people dole out.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate the "pittance rich people dole out" represents a far greater portion of their income than you've doled out for anyone ever. Keep on enjoying that unearned moral superiority though, it's really charming.

[xenogear3]

I am sure Bush family donated millions of dollars to Iraq after it took over its oil field.

[Deleted]

Hey look at me everyone I hate religion

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Hey look at me everyone I hate health insurance

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Hey look at me everyone I hate America

There are good reasons to hate America, Religion and the lack of free healthcare.

Then there is also good reason to hate the 2nd amendment, no free education, warmongering, racism and ignorance.

Many of these things are what people think of when someone mentions America.

[ArguesWithStrangers]

Most of the time, it doesn't; making donations to religious organizations tax deductible is effectively using public monies to subsidize them.

Now, there's a key exception when it comes to the preservation of cultural heritage in the form of donations for restoration of art, buildings, and the like. But people like the Salvation Army shouldn't get a cent deducted.

The legal justification for not taxing religious organizations is because taxing them gives the government power over them and limits the free exercise outlined in the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment.

In its 1970 opinion in Walz vs. Tax Commission of the City of New York, the high court stated that a tax exemption for churches "creates only a minimal and remote involvement between church and state and far less than taxation of churches. [An exemption] restricts the fiscal relationship between church and state, and tends to complement and reinforce the desired separation insulating each from the other." The Supreme Court also said that "the power to tax involves the power to destroy." Taxing churches breaks down the healthy separation of church and state and leads to the destruction of the free exercise of religion.

Los Angeles Times has a full article on it which I drew that paragraph from.

http://www.latimes.com/la-oew-lynn-s...p23-story.html

[PickleballAce]

Many of these things are what people think of when someone mentions America.

Some people have a bad case of having American dick on the brain.