Society is in a bit of an uncomfortable place when governments (in both Canada and the US) willingly give up revenue via tax incentives for donations while public discourse increasingly recognizes some of the giving as distortionary and problematic. At least we acknowledge this a bit, since giving away $1000 deprives the government of less than $1000 in tax revenue and the tax benefits for charitable contributions are capped at a percentage of income (net for corporations, ~gross for individuals).
It seems like it's time to reduce the tax benefits of philanthropy (esp. corporate). Canada lets corporations deduct giving up to 75% of net income every year (the US only allows up to 25%). I'm sympathetic to the idea that Amazon or Shopify may want to offset some of the social ills they arguably cause e.g. by community investment or carbon offsets, but the larger these numbers get the more likely I would expect them to become self-serving. I don't really see why we should subsidize corporate charity in direct proportion to profit. Donate all you want, but maybe we shouldn't let you avoid tax on 75% of your profit, especially your avoidance measure may otherwise accrue value to your business?
On the personal side, I don't really understand "the super-rich selfishly engage in philanthropy to dodge taxes; they should just pay taxes intead" take. Absolutely on-board with super-rich individuals paying more tax (and the problems with depriving governments of much-needed funding). But at the same time, giving $1000 deprives you of $1000. Unless I'm missing something, you'll basically never reduce your taxes by more than $1000; it's strictly more selfish, financially speaking, to keep that money for yourself. You get social brownie points/bragging rights, but how far does that really go?
You are depriving the government of some tax revenue: ~39% tax credit on up to 75% of personal income in Canada, ~37% tax deduction up to 20-60% of personal income in the US, possible capital gains tax elimination. That's a problem and IMO there should be an absolute per-person cap on giving incentives...but it seems like success is more likely by advocating for tax reform here, rather than what I generally interpret as advocating for wealthy individuals to give less (or voluntarily forgo tax tax incentives for giving), since the former probably scales and the latter probably doesn't.
Society is in a bit of an uncomfortable place when governments (in both Canada and the US) willingly give up revenue via tax incentives for donations while public discourse increasingly recognizes some of the giving as distortionary and problematic. At least we acknowledge this a bit, since giving away $1000 deprives the government of less than $1000 in tax revenue and the tax benefits for charitable contributions are capped at a percentage of income (net for corporations, ~gross for individuals).
It seems like it's time to reduce the tax benefits of philanthropy (esp. corporate). Canada lets corporations deduct giving up to 75% of net income every year (the US only allows up to 25%). I'm sympathetic to the idea that Amazon or Shopify may want to offset some of the social ills they arguably cause e.g. by community investment or carbon offsets, but the larger these numbers get the more likely I would expect them to become self-serving. I don't really see why we should subsidize corporate charity in direct proportion to profit. Donate all you want, but maybe we shouldn't let you avoid tax on 75% of your profit, especially your avoidance measure may otherwise accrue value to your business?
On the personal side, I don't really understand "the super-rich selfishly engage in philanthropy to dodge taxes; they should just pay taxes intead" take. Absolutely on-board with super-rich individuals paying more tax (and the problems with depriving governments of much-needed funding). But at the same time, giving $1000 deprives you of $1000. Unless I'm missing something, you'll basically never reduce your taxes by more than $1000; it's strictly more selfish, financially speaking, to keep that money for yourself. You get social brownie points/bragging rights, but how far does that really go?
You are depriving the government of some tax revenue: ~39% tax credit on up to 75% of personal income in Canada, ~37% tax deduction up to 20-60% of personal income in the US, possible capital gains tax elimination. That's a problem and IMO there should be an absolute per-person cap on giving incentives...but it seems like success is more likely by advocating for tax reform here, rather than what I generally interpret as advocating for wealthy individuals to give less (or voluntarily forgo tax tax incentives for giving), since the former probably scales and the latter probably doesn't.