An Overlooked Deduction--And a Modest Proposal
Apr 13 '00
Only four days left to file your taxes. Have you overlooked any deductions this year? Do you wish you had found a few more?
Here's a little used deduction, probably the least-used deduction in the entire IRS code.
It might appeal to your inner philanthropist!
The IRS will accept gifts for reduction of the public debt. Your tax-deductible checks may be sent to the Bureau of the Public Debt, and applied towards payment of our national debt.
Your gift might be like a drop in the ocean, or a grain of sand on the shore. In 1997, our national debt stood at 5 trillion, 369 billion, 707 million dollars. In 1999, it's expected to be 5 trillion, 915 million, 719 milion dollars, an increase of over 550 billion dollars.
Not feeling particularly charitable towards the IRS at this time of year? And have you realized (as I did, after seeing this bonus!) that you won't be able to take the charitable deduction until you file your Y2K taxes?
I thought so. Still, the idea of that 5 trillion dollar debt left me a little unsettled. I wished there was something I could do, as long as it wouldn't cost me any more money!
And so, I came up with a creative idea!
A New Internet Charity! Click on www.reducenationaldebt.com
I click on about eight internet charities a day, and my index finger isn't worn out yet. I think I could manage a ninth, particularly for a cause that even Ross Perot could support.
Sometimes I get discouraged because some of those internet charities only have three small sponsors. Each click only nets 2.5 cents towards my favorite causes--ending hunger, helping African refugees, finding a cure for cancer, saving the rainforest, sponsoring humanitarian causes, supporting education and the arts.
And some of the sponsors--Novica, Snaz, freebitz, and Cool Savings--sponsor multiple charities.
But I've thought pretty hard about it, and I think that the United States Treasury could get lots of sponsors. Our clicks might be worth nickels, even dimes! If 100 million of us could click to reduce the national debt each day, we could net the government 5 to 10 million dollars a day.
Who'd sponsor such a site? How about:
Microsoft: After all, don't they want a favorable resolution of their court case?
GM, Ford, and Daimler/Chrysler: Those mileage standards are way too high, anyway....
RJR Nabisco and Philip Morris: Let's bring cigarette commercials back for good.
Smith and Wesson: A chicken in every pot, a gun in every home...
Iowa Beef Products: Eat beef, as long as it's irradiated.
AOL, Ebay, Amazon.com: Never enact taxes on internet businesses.
American Medical Association: Deregulate HMO's, or, better yet, eliminate them entirely. Limit malpractice claims to actual medical costs.
American Bar Association: Allow the statute of limitations on product liability to go back fifty years. Eliminate all limits on malpractice claims.
I can think of hundreds of businesses that would probably sponsor a charity to reduce the national debt. Some of them would have political reasons, of course, but they'd be making charitable donations. Would Uncle Sam look a gift horse in the mouth?
The Hidden Benefits
Last year, 14% of the United States budget went towards paying interest on the national debt. Another 4% went towards reducing the national debt. The total, 18%, equaled the amount spent on defense, and exceeded the amount spent on education, law enforcement, and many other categories.
If our government had this 14% to spend on other priorities, maybe a whole host of internet charities could be eliminated.
We might have the funds to end hunger. To find a cure for cancer. To help African refugees. To restore full funding to Arts programs.
We might have the money to save Social Security and Medicare. To insure that Generation X will have enough money to live on after paying its Social Security taxes to help the baby boomers.
It's worth a click to me.....
That Overlooked Deduction
The donation to help reduce the national debt? That's how I started this article, wasn't it?
I don't think I'll go for it. I just bought Turbo Tax, and I'm doing my taxes tonight (or maybe tonight and tomorrow.) I'm not feeling in a real charitable-giving state of mind today (even though I clicked on my eight internet charities, as I always do.)
If it's an overlooked deduction, there might be a reason for it...
That reason might be how much of our personal income taxes go towards interest to reduce the national debt each year, instead of towards other, equally urgent priorities.
My charitable contribution is in the form of this epinion. I think that lots of people would click to reduce the deficit and keep our children's tax burdens affordable.
www.reducenationaldebt.com? It's my dream. Would you make a daily click if it were a reality?
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