Just a couple of comments. First, it might sound like I am quibbling but this sentence bothered me: “In effect, the government is subsidizing these organizations by reducing the taxes paid by people who contribute to them.” The reason it bothered me is that underlying it is an assumption that the government owns the rights to the money unless it magnanimously exempts one party or another. It makes the “subsidized” party a beggar of the government. That mentality is what makes us sheeple too often in the face of government usurpation. We need to think of the government as the beggar, forcing it to justify taking the money in the first place, not the other way around. I am not indicting this writer, just noting how easily we fall into accepting the government’s point of view.
Second, my husband and I give generously to our church and a few other organizations, mainly the Boy Scouts and local charities. We are not wealthy like the Obamas and such giving entails sacrifice on our part. Whether or not we get a tax exemption will not make a difference in our giving but if our cost of living goes up significantly that might make some difference. We do not aggressively itemize our in-kind contributions, preferring just to claim monetary support, but if Obama pursues charities and limits the tax deduction, while it exists, I am likely to join Hillary and Bill in valuing and itemizing every single item and minute of time contributed, thereby lessening our tax bite.
Third, I think it is time for charitable organizations to get together to do some public relations work and see if it can’t quantify the value of that charity work so people can see how shutting down charities will inevitably decrease benefits for most of Obama’s constituencies who are on the public dole. I believe if those who benefit from private charity were to line up at the public trough, there would be a lot less to go around. I know churches and soup kitchens (often church-run), thrift stores, interfaith ministries, self-help organizations and such make a huge difference in public dependence.
Finally, whether this stance towards private charity happens under Obama or not, that is the trend and most churches and other charities ought to be preparing for the time when government declares its outright animosity towards them. If they can’t survive right now without tax exemption, they ought to be making plans to get independent of government control (due in large part to that attitude that tax exemption is subsidization).
I haven't filed yet this year (got a whole bunch of $10 & $20 receipts to add up) but now that the IRS is cracking down on non-receipted stuff, I felt that I had to.
I used to just multiply what we give the church every week by 52 and round up to cover all the little "change in the jar by the register" contributions, Salvation Army kettles, clothes to Goodwill etc. It was a nuisance inventorying the bags of clothes this year, but I just made tally marks for each category and took the median value. Four lawn'n'leaf bags added up to over $700, which we'd pay taxes of over $200 on.
The list is available at the Salvation Army website.