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“Perfectly fine” and “legal” are different conceptual things. It may be legal, and part of our current system, but I think it is deplorable how easy it is to s

“Perfectly fine” and “legal” are different conceptual things. It may be legal, and part of our current system, but I think it is deplorable how easy it is to skirt around paying taxes to support a society.

version_five 4y ago
Personally I think the Patagonia thing is mostly marketing, but that aside, I think it's a desirable feature of a tax system that taxes can be avoided in this way. One way to think of taxes is the government saying "if you're not going to spend money on your own for the public good, well take it and do it for you". Letting people decide which charity / good their money gets spent on as a a first option is more efficient and gives more direct agency over how we spend our money to help society
- dewey 4y ago
  > Personally I think the Patagonia thing is mostly marketing I would've said the same about many companies, but after reading some books (Especially the older one from the founder: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22155.Let_My_People_Go_Surfing https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22155.Let_My_People_Go_S...) I feel it's genuine in their case and not just greenwashing. There's many instances in this book where they did the right thing, even if it as not the standard and they could've made more money by doing it the "standard" way (worker rights, materials, jumping on fast fashion trends,...).
  - coldtea 4y ago
    Or so is the framing that the founder uses!
    - dewey 4y ago
      It's very easy to be cynical and always see the worst in people, but it's still possible that people are reasonable and like to do the right thing.
      - coldtea 4y ago
        Very easy. But also very right most of the time. Especially if the people are billionaire founders of huge companies...
Zak 4y ago
There are tax loopholes that are probably bad for society (e.g. buy, borrow, die), but charitable donations like this one are probably a net win. Having the option to make such donations incentivizes them over doing something else (potentially something else non-taxable) with the assets, and charities are often (but not always) more effective than governments at accomplishing things that benefit society.

version_five 4y ago

Personally I think the Patagonia thing is mostly marketing, but that aside, I think it's a desirable feature of a tax system that taxes can be avoided in this way. One way to think of taxes is the government saying "if you're not going to spend money on your own for the public good, well take it and do it for you". Letting people decide which charity / good their money gets spent on as a a first option is more efficient and gives more direct agency over how we spend our money to help society

dewey 4y ago
> Personally I think the Patagonia thing is mostly marketing I would've said the same about many companies, but after reading some books (Especially the older one from the founder: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22155.Let_My_People_Go_Surfing https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22155.Let_My_People_Go_S...) I feel it's genuine in their case and not just greenwashing. There's many instances in this book where they did the right thing, even if it as not the standard and they could've made more money by doing it the "standard" way (worker rights, materials, jumping on fast fashion trends,...).
- coldtea 4y ago
  Or so is the framing that the founder uses!
  - dewey 4y ago
    It's very easy to be cynical and always see the worst in people, but it's still possible that people are reasonable and like to do the right thing.
    - coldtea 4y ago
      Very easy. But also very right most of the time. Especially if the people are billionaire founders of huge companies...

Zak 4y ago

There are tax loopholes that are probably bad for society (e.g. buy, borrow, die), but charitable donations like this one are probably a net win. Having the option to make such donations incentivizes them over doing something else (potentially something else non-taxable) with the assets, and charities are often (but not always) more effective than governments at accomplishing things that benefit society.