There's one major difference: taxes and the social net only help those in your country. And if you're in a western country (where most people with wealth are),

There's one major difference: taxes and the social net only help those in your country. And if you're in a western country (where most people with wealth are), the people who most need your help are elsewhere. Concretely, you can help a lot more people with the same amount of money if you focus your giving on the global poor (ex. Africa), rather than those in the US. One way to do this is https://www.givedirectly.org/ https://www.givedirectly.org/