(an American) - our tax code encourages behavior society deems virtuous. We "want" people to give money to homeless shelters, outreach programs, overseas disast

(an American) - our tax code encourages behavior society deems virtuous. We "want" people to give money to homeless shelters, outreach programs, overseas disaster relief, etc - so we "push" then to do that by making it relatively less expensive. I can easily argue that citizenry being directly involved in directing their funds to causes that matter is more democratic than the government doing that on their behalf.