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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Chuzzlewit who wrote (39525)	6/7/1999 1:41:00 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

For a good discussion of the basis for tax exemption for nonprofit organizations, see Bruce Hopkins, The Law of Tax-Exempt Organizations, Chapter One, "Philosophy Underlying nad Rationales for Tax-Exempt Organizations." A little less formal and less focussed discussion is in Howard Oleck's Nonprofit Corporations Organizations, and Associations. Both should be available in your library or by interlibrary loan. For me, it really boils down to your view of personal responsibility vs. government responsibility. Certainly until Roosevelt, and even to some degree today, the basic American philosophy is that of self-reliance and taking care of oneself and one's community, and government's role is to keep the peace and provide that infrastructure and regulation that only government can reasonably provide (roads, fire protection, etc.), but that it is not the government's role to run the lives of the people. The European model has been more of cradle-to-grave caretaking. Our reliance on volunteers and volunteer organizations was sufficient striking to be noted by DeToqueville (and many others) as one of the hallmarks of the American culture and primary distinguishing features between America and Europe. This is still a strong feature today, to the extent that Colin Powell and Jimmy Carter, two of the most honored former government officials in the public eye today, both have committed themselves to creating change through the volunteer sector rather than spending their time, effort and influence lobbying Congress for more social programs and to take over more of the work the volunteer sector has done. I happen to believe that the volunteer sector is a) more efficient, b) more flexible and humane, c) more able to focus promptly on true needs, and d) far more economical than government. It is MUCH cheaper for government to allow the volunteer sector to carry out these programs than to try to pay for all those programs with the tax proceeds on charitable donations, because if donations are taxed for sure there will be less money in the volunteer sector and there will be important human needs not being met. In addition, encouraging young people to understand and accept the responsibility of assisting those in need and bettering their communities personally, rather than just paying taxes and turning all that over to the government, promotes values that I believe are at the heart of what has made our culture and country the most dymanic, most envied in the world. And all it takes is allowing people to deduct their contributions from their taxable income. (Not even a tax credit, just a deduction.) It's one of the most beneficial of all tax provisions for the poor and for society at large.