When people find they cannot itemize deductions because of the increased standard deduction

[still_one]

Will less people contribute to charities?

[Beakybird]

1. Definitely

My sister is a tax preparer, and she expects a big drop in charitable giving.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I recall reading many years ago that a lot of charitable giving in this country

depended on the tax deduction.

My own charitable giving never has, even when I've itemized. I give what I can afford to the causes I support.

[still_one]

4. It will not stop my charitable donations, but I won't be donating as much

[trev]

7. I have never deducted

my charitable contributions.

A lot of them, of course, have been direct payments to people on the street.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. Yes. Today I put money into the jar of a man playing a guitar outside

a grocery store.

I also volunteer at a local homeless shelter, fixing and serving food several times a year with a particular faith group. The shelter is known as Pete's Pets, because it was originally a place that sold food and stuff for pets, hence the name. I have learned to love cooking for a large crowd. And even though it is clear that a sad number of our guests truly are mentally ill, they are almost to a person incredibly grateful for what we do for them.

When I was young we were very poor. My mother had left my father, moved the five kids still at home (oldest brother was in the army) about 2,000 miles across country. She was a nurse and knew she could get work anywhere. But in the early 1960s nurses weren't paid all that well. What she earned really wasn't quite enough to support us. So she worked every possible extra shift she could get. When I got a steady Saturday babysitting gig, the small amount of money I earned I spent on groceries for the family. It was simply not on the radar that I might spend the money on myself.

We were lucky. We always knew things would get better, especially as kids left home. My older sister married right out of high school. A bit more than a year later, I quite college, found a job, and moved out myself. Mom did steadily get raises. Plus, and I almost hate to bring this up but it probably matters, we were white. We did not have systemic racial discrimination against us.

For us, being poor was temporary. And even though at various times later on in my life I haven't had very much money, I have never really been that close to homelessness. For which I am highly appreciative. It's not because I'm inherently a better person, it's that my life has unfolded in a different way.

So while I don't give a lot of cash (although I did last week give $250 to the local Christmas Stocking Fund, as it's called locally) I try to give from time to time.

[trev]

14. Kudos to you.

Today I find myself on the other side.

[VOX]

3. With a disappearing middle class, absolutely.

Only the mega-rich will be tapped for “love gifts,” which usually means quid pro quo of some sort.

[MichMan]

5. I haven't itemized for 10 years

Doesn't affect my charitable giving. Probably because I don't give to obtain some monetary benefit other than wanting to help

[Igel]

6. It did back in the '80s when you needed to start itemizing to deduct charitable contributions.

Until then, you just deducted them. Suddenly you needed to have a large amount, or roll in what you deducted with other things like mortgage interest and health expenses to make it worth while.

Contributions eventually rebounded, but it struck me at the time that most of that was due to inflation.

[Fullduplexxx]

8. Taking conpensation for charity seems like it's not

[Trenzalore]

9. There are going to be a lot of angry people in January

They are going to be expecting a refund and will have a tax bill.

The tea baggers will blame the democrats somehow.

[still_one]

10. A good number of people who had iitemized deductions will find that with the removal of the personal

exemption they will actually discover no tax break, and in some cases a tax increase

Those who never itemized deductions will find out that the removal of the personal exemption will give them much less of a tax break then they thought, because of the increased premiums for health insurance due to the uncertainty introduced by the republicans with the ACA, along with the increased cost of everything due to the trade wars, instability and uncertainty

[progree]

12. I'll have usable charitable deductions for a few years - gave my farm away to Population Connection

in 2016.

I am allowed to deduct the net cost of my gift {1} over a 6 year period, limited each year to 30% of my AGI. But that takes me well past both the old ($6,350 IIRC) and new ($12,000) standard deduction limits for singles (actually $13,300 for seniors).

Anything further cashwise that I contribute in these years (cash contributions aren't subject to the 30% AGI limit) add to my deductions that reduce my taxes.

{1} I got a charitable gift annuity (CGA) in return for my farm donation. So the net cost of my farm donation is the market value of the farm less the value of the CGA as determined by some IRS-approved formula.

After the 6 year window ends in 2021, my deductions of all kinds will be well below $13,300, and I will have to come up with a "Plan B" for charitable contributions (I have no more farms to give away).

One option is to set up a Donor Advised Fund, where you make a big contribution to it in one year so that your total deductions go way past the standard deduction line. You are then allowed to actually distribute from your DAF to whatever charities over as many years you like. (You deduct on Schedule A in the year you contribute to the DAF, not in the years you distribute to charities from it).

Another is just simply make some huge gifts in one year (again so you blow past the standard deduction), and then be a grinch for the next few years.

Anoter idea - take IRA and 401k required minimum distributions via Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs) and pay no taxes on the distributions (neither does the charity you gift these to). This is a way to get a tax break without itemizing deductions on Schedule A.

Or, give away appreciated assets like stock funds, and avoid paying capital gain taxes (the charity doesn't pay the capital gains taxes either). Another way to get a tax break without itemizing deductions on Schedule A.

In past years (previous to 2016) I usually took the standard deduction and so there was no tax benefit to my charitable giving, which was quite modest anyway.

[JustAnotherGen]

13. I don't know

But I do think that unless you are in a high property tax state - you are in for a very rude awakening.

Those of us in high property tax states are keenly aware of the devil in the details of the tax rip off.