{"items": [{"author": "Ben", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/622956478102?comment_id=622978543882", "anchor": "fb-622978543882", "service": "fb", "text": "See also: \"I don't want a higher salary, because it'll bump me into the next tax bracket.\" People struggle to understand marginal taxation rates.", "timestamp": "1375632710"}, {"author": "Hassan", "source_link": "https://plus.google.com/109686970531250960199", "anchor": "gp-1375632997890", "service": "gp", "text": "Given the number of people who simply don't understand how tax brackets and marginal tax rates work, I am sure there are people who are donating to charity because they think it actually saves them money.", "timestamp": 1375632997}, {"author": "Adam", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/622956478102?comment_id=622990504912", "anchor": "fb-622990504912", "service": "fb", "text": "I agree, the standard deduction makes most donations irrelevant. Deductions don't make much sense for most of the lower-middle class earners. One facet that might help is that the donor can often declare the value of the item being donated, so one could (in theory) give the full retail price of an item even if most of it's life was spent. I suspect that if the numbers were egregiously off in value, it would trigger an audit.", "timestamp": "1375639124"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/622956478102?comment_id=623039012702", "anchor": "fb-623039012702", "service": "fb", "text": "@Adam: \" give the full retail price of an item even if most of it's life was spent\"
You're only allowed to deduct the (current) fair market value of property you donate. So if you donate a guitar that cost $500 new but would probably only sell for $200 now, you deduct $200 not $500. More details: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/ar02.html...
(But I'm not a tax lawyer, so there may be issues I'm missing.)", "timestamp": "1375659265"}, {"author": "Phillip", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/622956478102?comment_id=623054022622", "anchor": "fb-623054022622", "service": "fb", "text": "Chris Sea 1) If you don't itemize deductions, it is unlikely to matter. for the typical tax payer home ownership is what drives you into itemizing. 2) Assuming you itemize, and this is a significant donation (for my purposes > $250) make sure you get a note from the charity saying you recieved no benefits for you contribution (pretty standard letter they will know how ot do, if they don't be worried about how well run the charity is).", "timestamp": "1375664856"}, {"author": "Arthur", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/622956478102?comment_id=623106118222", "anchor": "fb-623106118222", "service": "fb", "text": "There is a rational reason to take this stance, even though I think it doesn't speak well of the person taking it -- if you hate the very idea of taxes so much that you would rather a relatively large amount of money go to a charity you pick than a relatively small amount of money be involuntarily taken from you to fund causes you don't support.
The meme of trying to lower your tax bracket has spread beyond the very angry \"taxes violate the 13th Amendment\" mob, but that mob is its source and the meme is therefore tainted by its association with the meme of obnoxious free-market anti-communitarian populism.", "timestamp": "1375706662"}, {"author": "Arthur", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/622956478102?comment_id=623155848562", "anchor": "fb-623155848562", "service": "fb", "text": "Please don't try to Less Wrong shakubuku me. I am proudly and unrepentantly a sides-taking, political, self-righteous person and intend to remain so for the foreseeable future.", "timestamp": "1375738117"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/622956478102?comment_id=623159865512", "anchor": "fb-623159865512", "service": "fb", "text": "@Arthur: \"if you hate the very idea of taxes so much that you would rather a relatively large amount of money go to a charity you pick than a relatively small amount of money be involuntarily taken from you to fund causes you don't support\"
While I don't hate the idea of taxes, and in fact think they're vital for a functioning society, I would rather give $X to charity than pay 25% of $X in taxes for the simple reason that compared to our government the AMF does more than 4x as much good with a marginal dollar.", "timestamp": "1375740478"}, {"author": "Adam", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/622956478102?comment_id=623178293582", "anchor": "fb-623178293582", "service": "fb", "text": "The \"fair market value\" with respect to donations is often open to a lot of interpretation and FMV is subjective to the perspective of the donor.", "timestamp": "1375750704"}]}