[ars]

The tax break is only around 20% of the donation. Even if the donated money is not spent as perfectly as you would like, there's 5 times as much of it.

[s1artibartfast]

Exactly. You would have to believe that taxes do 5x more public good per dollar than charities.

With defense spending, pet projects, and incompetence, it is hard to make a case that they are on parity.

[mercutio2]

Huh? My marginal tax rate is ~45%. I get way more than a 20% benefit from 501c3 donations.

I get to avoid capital gains on the donation of appreciated assets on top of that.

For whom is the benefit only 20%?

[ars]

Long term capital gains tax is 15%. The vast majority of these are against capital gains, not income.

[lmm]

The tax break for SALT works exactly the same way, no?