Lao Voices

I believe that the generosity chart is based on percentage of income of donors, which means that the donors don’t have to make a lot of money but their giving to nonprofit charity of their choice is calculated in percentage. Most southern states, such as my state is considered a church state and religious leaders do have a lot of influence and often preach in their sermons as to who their members should vote for, and also emailing the newsletter, then the chain email starts, even non member such as myself get one every now and then. I think donation is based on personal belief and if given to the church is their choice then it’s their right to do so, nothing wrong with that, just like Buddhist would give to the temple (wat), but the only difference is that we don’t have to give 10% tie, we give according to what we have at the time, whether $100 or $1, you get the same amount of Boun, this I heard from the last Buddhist sermon.

As for the IRS Charitable contribution deduction, in order for you to be able to deduct from your income tax return, you have to be able to itemize your deduction, which means filing long form, and you can give (deduct) up to 50% of your taxable income (there is no phase-out based on income threshold.) Also, donation has to be made to charitable contribution such as,

Churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, and other religious organizations. Federal, state, and local governments, if your contribution is solely for public purposes (for example, a gift to reduce the public debt). Non-profit schools and hospitals. Public parks and recreation facilities. Salvation Army, Red Cross, CARE, Goodwill Industries, United Way, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Club of America, etc. War veterans’ groups. And many more…

Referring back to the generosity chart, it appears that the blue states are not as generous in giving; I think the data might be misleading because I believe that it’s not according to the total dollars given. I know a person that works for a CPA firm in NYC and most of her clients are wealthy, some making as much as 2 to 3 million dollars a year, and yes, some give as much as $400,000 in charitable contribution. It is all generosity giving, yes and no, no because it’s a way to shelter tax, which means approximately $200,000 of not having to pay tax, but they also give because they want to give and many would give to organizations of their choice, such as their old school, foundations, churches, local fire department, salvation army, etc.

I think some blindly give because of face, I knew a Lao lady that gives to her church because she believes that the more she gives the more Boun she’ll have, bragging to others as to how much she gives, and honestly, I’m not impressed. It used to be that if you give less than $250 in cash, you don’t have to show proof, but it’s not like that anymore. Starting 2007, any contribution in cash has to have receipts, whether $1 or $250, another example of a tax lope hole that the IRS is fixing because people abused this by putting down $250 even when they didn’t make any donation.

I believe that we all give, as taxpayers, we generously give to Uncle Sam.