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Anyone who contributes $100 to NPR deducts $100 from their income for tax purposes. So the public is paying, in that he or she would have paid $40-50 in taxes o

Anyone who contributes $100 to NPR deducts $100 from their income for tax purposes. So the public is paying, in that he or she would have paid $40-50 in taxes on it otherwise.

dymk 4y ago
So is this an argument against charitable donation to nonprofits in general? And I doubt your effective tax rate is 40-50%
- UIUC_06 4y ago
  Tax math: it's the marginal tax rate you have to look at for deductions, i.e. the rate you'll pay on the next dollar you earn, or save on the dollar you deduct. We don't have a flat tax at the Federal level, or most states. We can find plenty of taxpayers in NY, CA, or MA who have a marginal rate of 40-50%. They are the highly affluent people that those PBS pledge drives featuring Baby Boomer musical acts are aimed at.
ceejayoz 4y ago
There aren't many Americans anywhere close to a 40-50% effective tax rate.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  California is easily close to that, when you add up Federal and State income taxes. As is New York. Just look at the continued campaign to remove the $10,000 limit on State and Local Taxes. Where's that coming from?
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    > California is easily close to that, when you add up Federal and State income taxes. As is New York. No, it's not. Someone making $250k in California pays an effective Federal rate of 22% and state of 8%. Even someone making a million a year sees an effective rate of ~42%. (And that's before tax avoidance strategies they'll undoubtedly pursue.) https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/california/?deductions=0&filing=single&income=250000&ira=0&k401=0 https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/califor... Same thing for New York; $100k income nets out at a 20% effective rate. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/new-york/?deductions=0&filing=single&income=100000&ira=0&k401=0 https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/new-yor... (And these are single-filers. If you've got a family, it dips substantially further.) > Just look at the continued campaign to remove the $10,000 limit on State and Local Taxes. Where's that coming from? The $10k limit isn't a limit on taxes, it's on how much state/local tax paid you can deduct, set in 2017 as a way to punish high-tax blue states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Cuts_and_Jobs_Act_of_2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Cuts_and_Jobs_Act_of_2017
    - AlbertCory 4y ago
      > The $10k limit isn't a limit on taxes Pedantic. Obviously that's what I meant (and knew) Learn about marginal tax rates. See, Forbes even tells you: "your marginal tax rate is 35%" 22% is the average tax rate. It's the *marginal" tax rate we're concerned with for deductions.
PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
> Anyone who contributes $100 to NPR deducts $100 from their income for tax purposes. Itemized deductions these days are either extremely small (limited to a few hundred dollars) or only for the very wealthy. During the Trump years, the standard deduction was doubled, with the result that vastly fewer people now itemize deductions. Yes, you can report a limited amount of tax-deductible donations, but last time I looked it was around $300/yr (and even that was easy to overlook).
- astrange 4y ago
  The $300 charitable deduction was just in 2021, you basically can't get a federal charitable deduction anymore. Might get one at the state level though.
- AlbertCory 4y ago
  As I said elsewhere: the relevant percentage is not "how many normal people itemize?" but "how many NPR contributors itemize?"

Anyone who contributes $100 to NPR deducts $100 from their income for tax purposes. So the public is paying, in that he or she would have paid $40-50 in taxes on it otherwise.

dymk 4y ago

So is this an argument against charitable donation to nonprofits in general? And I doubt your effective tax rate is 40-50%

UIUC_06 4y ago
Tax math: it's the marginal tax rate you have to look at for deductions, i.e. the rate you'll pay on the next dollar you earn, or save on the dollar you deduct. We don't have a flat tax at the Federal level, or most states. We can find plenty of taxpayers in NY, CA, or MA who have a marginal rate of 40-50%. They are the highly affluent people that those PBS pledge drives featuring Baby Boomer musical acts are aimed at.

ceejayoz 4y ago

There aren't many Americans anywhere close to a 40-50% effective tax rate.

AlbertCory 4y ago
California is easily close to that, when you add up Federal and State income taxes. As is New York. Just look at the continued campaign to remove the $10,000 limit on State and Local Taxes. Where's that coming from?
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  > California is easily close to that, when you add up Federal and State income taxes. As is New York. No, it's not. Someone making $250k in California pays an effective Federal rate of 22% and state of 8%. Even someone making a million a year sees an effective rate of ~42%. (And that's before tax avoidance strategies they'll undoubtedly pursue.) https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/california/?deductions=0&filing=single&income=250000&ira=0&k401=0 https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/califor... Same thing for New York; $100k income nets out at a 20% effective rate. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/new-york/?deductions=0&filing=single&income=100000&ira=0&k401=0 https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/new-yor... (And these are single-filers. If you've got a family, it dips substantially further.) > Just look at the continued campaign to remove the $10,000 limit on State and Local Taxes. Where's that coming from? The $10k limit isn't a limit on taxes, it's on how much state/local tax paid you can deduct, set in 2017 as a way to punish high-tax blue states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Cuts_and_Jobs_Act_of_2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Cuts_and_Jobs_Act_of_2017
  - AlbertCory 4y ago
    > The $10k limit isn't a limit on taxes Pedantic. Obviously that's what I meant (and knew) Learn about marginal tax rates. See, Forbes even tells you: "your marginal tax rate is 35%" 22% is the average tax rate. It's the *marginal" tax rate we're concerned with for deductions.

PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago

> Anyone who contributes $100 to NPR deducts $100 from their income for tax purposes. Itemized deductions these days are either extremely small (limited to a few hundred dollars) or only for the very wealthy. During the Trump years, the standard deduction was doubled, with the result that vastly fewer people now itemize deductions. Yes, you can report a limited amount of tax-deductible donations, but last time I looked it was around $300/yr (and even that was easy to overlook).

astrange 4y ago
The $300 charitable deduction was just in 2021, you basically can't get a federal charitable deduction anymore. Might get one at the state level though.
AlbertCory 4y ago
As I said elsewhere: the relevant percentage is not "how many normal people itemize?" but "how many NPR contributors itemize?"