LETTER TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

In his commentary, "The Grinch Who wants to Steal Charitable Deduction" U/T column Sunday, Dec. 25), Professor Smith paints a simple picture of a complex and deceptive part of the tax code. For clarification, there was charity giving before the tax code permitted deductions, some on a very large scale (think Carnegie, Rockefeller).

Deduction for charitable giving ranks among many adjustments to the tax code that were contrived to favor special interests. For very wealthy people who are inclined to share some of their wealth in charitable giving, it is quite clear that they will get a bigger bang for the buck if the gift reduces their tax load. That might be acceptable if the government were operating in the black. But the picture is quite different if the government is operating in a deficit. The charity deduction is lost revenue, so the public is placed in the position of subsidizing the wealthy person's projects. Perversely, this translates to wealthy givers positioning themselves as congressmen without portfolio, spending the public's money.

Within this scenario the taxpayer who saves a few hundred dollars with a charity tax deduction probably isn't saving anything at all, for the government indebtedness is the public's responsibility, and in the current situation the burden of reducing it extends into succeeding generations. To this writer it does make sense to eliminate the charitable deduction.

Sincerely,


Edward Hujsak