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Philanthropy, in almost every modern society, is regarded as something special. In the eyes of many, it is one thing for the government to implement financial-aid programs in the goal of helping individual citizens, but it is quite another for the private sector and the wealthiest people in the world to do the same thing.
People are simply not used to those with money aiding those who are less fortunate than they are. Thus, when individuals like Bill Gates begin displaying altruistic deeds of philanthropy, it comes as a surprise to many. While it may be a surprise to some, the governments in many countries are anything but surprised with these deeds, some even going so far as to grant extraordinary tax breaks to people that regularly donate in the form of philanthropic deeds. The question then becomes whether this is a good idea or not.
Philanthropy as Mutually Beneficial
The pro tax break position, as stated in its simplest terms, is purely an economic view of the world. According to the people who take this position, the government taxes wealthy individuals at an extremely high rate in order to gain money for programs such as social welfare and security, and a number of other government funded programs aimed at helping those who are less financially fortunate in the society. Because of this, the economic view of the situation from the pro tax break group is simply: that if an individual takes the initiative, and begins to do things themselves in the goal of helping other people in the society, then continuing to tax them would be comparable to taxing them twice. Since governments do not wish to tax people twice and potentially overtax them in the process, tax breaks for philanthropy are a good idea and very much needed.
Another way to look at it from the pro tax break position is the political idea that the individual is better at spending money than the government. The people that hold this view cite philanthropy as one of the things that is done better through private means than through public ones and because of this, tax breaks are needed to encourage a larger degree of private philanthropy.
Philanthropy-Related Tax Breaks: Another Means for the Rich to Become Richer
One thing that pro and anti tax break people will agree on is the fact that philanthropy is a completely voluntary thing. This, however, is where the agreements end as the anti position takes the philosophically opposite view of the pro position. These people will argue that if a person is going to take the initiative and be philanthropic as a series of voluntary actions, then it defeats the purpose of philanthropy to have those actions rewarded by the government through large tax breaks. Philanthropy, in the eyes of these people, is something that should be done out of the goodness of one's heart, and not something that should be done for the sole purpose of receiving tax breaks.
In addition to this, many people that take the position against tax breaks feel that abuse of this system would be very easy for the ultra-rich to accomplish. After all, the tax code in many of these countries is already so complicated that adding another element to the code would create confusion and in this confusion would be the opportunity for people to cheat the system.
Philanthropy and corporate philanthropy are both very powerful forces in today's world. Many different ideas for philanthropy come from the wealthiest and most capable individuals in the world. The definition of philanthropy is very different for different individuals but the significance of these acts is the same. The history of philanthropy and the philanthropic statistics, in general, demonstrate that celebrities and corporate philanthropy are overall, beneficial to society as a whole; it is simply a question of the morality behind these unselfish deeds that provides an ongoing debate.
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