Should we think about starving the beast? 501(c)(3) tax boycott?

[Capitalocracy]

I know starving the beast is a Republican talking point, but hear me out and tell me what you think about this idea that's occurring to me. What if we literally got a very large group of people together and said look, if all you're going to do with our tax money is hand it over to the rich and use it to blow people up in foreign countries and imprison pot smokers and whatever other abuses of power they're using our money for, we're going to take all the money we can legally deduct from our taxes and put it in 501(c)(3) organizations that are doing the things we think the government should be doing, and the members of the organization could literally choose policies they prefer and put a price on them, like we'll give 10% less to charity and pay that 10% in taxes if we get out of Afghanistan, or we'll give 25% back if we get single payer, or we'll give 50% back if we get a living wage law.

What do you think? If enough people were doing this, and someone who, unlike me, actually has a voice were promoting it, would you join in?

[AngryAmish]

1. That is what Warren Buffet is doing

He owns life insurance companies so he makes money when the estate tax is high. He does not want to leave his kids a lot of money so he gifted a lot of his wealth to a foundation (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) and that avoids the estate tax.

[T Wolf]

2. Howmany can afford to make charitable donations as you suggest? Considering the low

marginal rates that now exist, these donations would not gain much at all in terms of deductions. So, you are asking people to give money they do not have and cannot afford.

Only by NOT PAYING any taxes, if done by a proportion of the population that is unachievable, would an impact be felt by the government. And people would also have to be willing to go to jail for the crime. Not gonna happen in the land of the lazy and selfish.

A general strike, ala Europe, with violence, is the only way to have an impact. And that will never happen here either.

Face it. Given the system we are stuck with and the cretins on top (in both parties), there is nothing that will be done given the "quality" of the American population.

Better to hunker down and simply do whatever you can for yourself and your family. The enemies are too strong and too entrenched to fight, at least using the tactics that are "acceptable" to most.

[moriah]

3. I'd have to donate over $40,000 of my $50k salary to have no tax burden.

Now, if it was a $1 for $1 tax credit for charitable donations, what you suggest would be feasible.

(Edit to clarify.. taxes are weird)

[Capitalocracy]

4. What is the ratio?

As you can tell, this is not something I know anything about.

[moriah]

5. Each dollar donated is deducted from taxable income, not from tax owed.

I'm in the 25% tax bracket, so every $4 I donate is $1 off of my tax burden, until I donate enough to get to take my net income to the next lower tax bracket ($35k and 15%). After that, I have to donate a little over $6 to get $1 off my tax burden.

If it were that charitable donations were treated as tax credits instead of tax deductions, I could donate $6500 to charity and owe no taxes.

[Capitalocracy]

6. I still think as an organized effort with enough people

donating not until you have zero tax burden, but until you have lowered your tax burden as much as possible through donation without surpassing the total amount you would be paying in taxes (unless you're feeling generous, of course) might send a pretty strong message.