[Snorlax94]

That last example (elimination of the tax deduction for football seats) was actually *gulp* good policy. If a donation is mandatory to get something of value in return, then it is not a donation, it is a payment, and thus shouldn’t be a tax deduction.

I have no idea why the administration came to the decision, but they deserve credit for good policy when they do it.

BC

I had a follow-up point on this issue when it came up years ago but the topic died down.

But there’s an enormous inconsistency in terms of when “donations in anticipation of gifts received” are taxed and not taxed. If you support a non-profit like a museum or an aquarium, you may get access to a special “members only” line that saves you an hour every visit, and the “donation” to access that line wasn’t targeted in the tax bill. Theatres, like the ACT Theatre in SF, have a very long wait to get access to good seats, but if you make a large donation, you magically rise up in priority. You still pay face value for the tickets, so the “side door” deal to better seats was still a tax dedictible donation. I don’t know how familiar people are with attending gala fund raisers, but, for one, if you pay $250, $55 is in anticipation for the nice meal, and $195 was a tax-deductible donation. But if you pay $1,000 a seat, still, only $55 was for the meal for $945 was fully tax deductible, even though coincidentally you are now seated front and center and are hobnobbing with politicians — you are essentialy at the 50 yard line.

Donations for better seats is how pretty much all seats are allocated by non-profits. It’s how you decide who gets center orchestra, who gets to be close to the celebrities and politicians, who gets the better view, who gets the VIP entrance. It was incredibly arbitrary and still quite puzzling to pluck college football seats out of all the possible tax-deductible loopholes to target at 3 AM without scrutiny or debate. I cannot fathom of all the loopholes to close, a bunch of politicians  late at night would “accidentally” stick this is as well as remarkably large tax-cuts for “businesses with very few employees but very large real estate depreciation expenses” that sound an awful lot like hotel owners and special tax cuts for parnerships “so long as they are not lawyers or accountants” that sounds an awful lot like real estate develpers, while coincidentally explicitly excluding industries that often vote Democrat.

I can assure you there are plenty of other, larger and more worthy, and more liberal-elitiest-coastal-Democratic loopholes that a Republican president, House and Senate could have sprung on the public. It was not “accidental good policy.” It was planned, the question is why.

[Snorlax94]

That last example (elimination of the tax deduction for football seats) was actually *gulp* good policy. If a donation is mandatory to get something of value in return, then it is not a donation, it is a payment, and thus shouldn’t be a tax deduction.

I have no idea why the administration came to the decision, but they deserve credit for good policy when they do it.

BC

I had a follow-up point on this issue when it came up years ago but the topic died down.

But there’s an enormous inconsistency in terms of when “donations in anticipation of gifts received” are taxed and not taxed. If you support a non-profit like a museum or an aquarium, you may get access to a special “members only” line that saves you an hour every visit, and the “donation” to access that line wasn’t targeted in the tax bill. Theatres, like the ACT Theatre in SF, have a very long wait to get access to good seats, but if you make a large donation, you magically rise up in priority. You still pay face value for the tickets, so the “side door” deal to better seats was still a tax dedictible donation. I don’t know how familiar people are with attending gala fund raisers, but, for one, if you pay $250, $55 is in anticipation for the nice meal, and $195 was a tax-deductible donation. But if you pay $1,000 a seat, still, only $55 was for the meal for $945 was fully tax deductible, even though coincidentally you are now seated front and center and are hobnobbing with politicians — you are essentialy at the 50 yard line.

Donations for better seats is how pretty much all seats are allocated by non-profits. It’s how you decide who gets center orchestra, who gets to be close to the celebrities and politicians, who gets the better view, who gets the VIP entrance. It was incredibly arbitrary and still quite puzzling to pluck college football seats out of all the possible tax-deductible loopholes to target at 3 AM without scrutiny or debate. I cannot fathom of all the loopholes to close, a bunch of politicians  late at night would “accidentally” stick this is as well as remarkably large tax-cuts for “businesses with very few employees but very large real estate depreciation expenses” that sound an awful lot like hotel owners and special tax cuts for parnerships “so long as they are not lawyers or accountants” that sounds an awful lot like real estate develpers, while coincidentally explicitly excluding industries that often vote Democrat.

I can assure you there are plenty of other, larger and more worthy, and more liberal-elitiest-coastal-Democratic loopholes that a Republican president, House and Senate could have sprung on the public. It was not “accidental good policy.” It was planned, the question is why.