I’m an American sick of being taxed by the dysfunctional US federal government and am looking for ways to reduce the amount paid as well as increase my contribution to society. I’m not looking to reduce state taxes.

How can I find out the amount I can donate to charities each year such that it reduces my federal taxes as much as possible for my income level?

  • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍
    2·
    2 days ago

    Sort of; I object only to the way you presented it, not the facts.

    You’re donating to a cause, which I assume you believe in, which reduces the value used to calculate your taxes. If you make $10, and you donate $1 to a charity, you get taxed as if you made $9. This applies to all income taxes, since state taxes are based largely on your taxable federal income. So OP could try to do something like do their fed taxes and instead of copying “$9” put "$10” where their state forms say to use the federal value, but that’s likely to raise a flag somewhere.

    My main issue is the portrayal that donations are “spending money.” You could probably successfully argue that “donating” satisfies the definition of “spending money”, but that does a disservice to charity.

    Also, just as an aside, OP would never save $0.45 on a dollar donation. No income tax bracket is that high except for the very rich, and they have many other ways to avoid paying taxes that in no way benefit charities.

    • slazer2au@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 days ago

      I agree it is a bit reductionist but when people say ‘give money to charity because you can claim it off your taxes’ that is also reductionism.