Finance committee Can I add something?
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee From an economic standpoint, it's a two-point question: would they have sold and would they have donated? Those are two big assumptions. We don't know what would have happened without the tax credit.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee My sense is that private shares can be valued. We do have forensic accountants. So the concern of not having the tax treatment for them because there will be some sort of abuse should...or that's not the reason for doing it. I don't know what the reason is for treating them diffe
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee I think the problem is twofold. One is that we have very difficult data to try to do any kind of analysis with. If you look at the charity tax returns, you'll see that the charity tax returns are not specifically asked how much money they received from corporations or businesses.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee I think I would eliminate the two tiers and make it a single tier.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee Thinking of it in more of a macro perspective, if you look at the tax returns, the number of tax filers reporting donations is increasing. We've seen a growth in the number of tax filers, so that's what's causing the decline, or what we're saying is the perceived share of tax fil
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee The question is, if the government drops money into the charity, what happens to private donors? Traditional economic theory says that as an individual—and this would be similar to public goods—I see that the government has given that charity money, so I'm going to stop giving.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee That is certainly a possibility, and I think one of the key facets of our research says that the charities are active participants. They are not passive recipients of funding. Be it government money or be it private donations, they are active in raising money for their charities.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee Maybe.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee I do not know that.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee No. Actually, that's a really interesting question. I'm working on a chapter for the Handbook of Public Economics with another professor, and we can't get that number.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee It's an amazingly simple number that you would think you should be able to get. Part of it, if you think about it, is that in tax return data, not everybody identifies that they have been giving to charity. Plus, not all giving is tax-receipted. If you attend a gala, is that a d
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee This is my gut.
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee My gut says that it would be disastrous, because—
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne
Finance committee It's just like you going out and deciding to buy something or not, right? What tax credits do is reduce the price of giving. There are people out there who do react to that incentive. You can see that. What has bolstered the growth in giving? It's the giving from individuals who
February 2nd, 2012Committee meeting
Prof. A. Abigail Payne