Our tax adviser, while trying to find federal deductions for our income taxes, asked if we were “inclined to giving.” He found no donation receipts.
We told him that yes, we were very inclined to giving, and that part of our federal income taxes were “given” to the state and local governments for distribution to a wide variety of what used to be our donation-supported organizations. We felt no need to give to them twice.
We went on further to state that we don’t give money anymore to “anyone we don’t know,” including panhandlers, charities and nonprofit organizations. We have found that “nonprofits,” for which tax deductions can be taken, include churches that squander the money on buildings, missions and glitz; foundations that treat donations as personal slush funds; organizations that pay out 30 to 95 percent of donations for executive salaries and professional fund raisers; and just plain old scams.
We volunteer our time instead to local organizations and we directly support needy people in our extended family. We don’t let someone else decide how to spend our donations or time. There are no federal tax deductions for this giving, and that’s OK.