Steve Andersen:
Yeah I know that
But is it morally “better” to keep it to yourself and not declare them?
I think too much I know
i think there are two elements to your question.
to give and expect something in return is not “charity”, strictly speaking. at least we can say that it is not perfect charity. when we give, we are supposed to give disinterestedly, not looking to get anything in return, even recognition. so if money was given throughout the year for the sake of receiving some tax benefit, it really doesn’t have the moral quality of “charity”. this actually happens often. celebrities make appearances and in return the organization makes a donation in their name. this is done to build up sufficient tax credits to protect their multi-million dollar incomes (and to give them good pr.) anyhow, the disinterested quality of the gift happens at the time of giving. if you calculate how much you’ve given right before Christmas in order to figure out how much you need to give before the end of the year, that ruins (diminishes) the moral character of that act. so it is possible to give a lot of money away all year long, without ever really being charitable. or you can have instances where you lacked perfect charity. it depends on how you give.
when tax time comes, if you fail to claim the deduction, you are just giving more money away. what the government is saying by giving that deduction is 1) they recognize that if people didn’t give to charities, which provide social services, then the government would have to spend the money anyhow to provide those services. 2) that they want to encourage people to give to charity. the government couldn’t care less about the moral qualities of the giving. they’re not really trying to reward us for
being charitable.
when you take the deduction, you aren’t really leveraging your donations to get some kind of discount on taxes you owe. the government is saying that you don’t owe the tax in the first place. it may not feel that way while it is happening. while we’re trying to figure out the amount we owe, we’ll claim anything we can to lower the final amount. if you don’t make some claim that you deserve, and just give the government extra money on purpose, that is an act of charity too. so if you say ‘i gave that money away without expecting anything in return, so now i’m not going to consider it in my taxes’ you are just being charitable again.
in either case, you are not changing the character of the acts that occurred in the past. maybe it is better stated that you
cannot change the character of past acts.
