Corpania Ideas

CAVEAT! I'm an amateur philosopher and idea-generator. I am NOT an investment professional. Don't take any of my advice before consulting with an attorney and also a duly licensed authority on finance. Seriously, this my personal blog of random ideas only for entertainment purposes. Don't be an idiot.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

"Giving to charity is for suckers!"

Let me be provocative... "Giving to charity is for suckers!"

As succinctly as I can, it is generally true that...

1- A worthwhile charity is one that does good in society.

2- Charities are nearly entirely subsidized by good & generous people.

3- Bad people generally don't substantially subsidize charities. But bad people still reap the benefits of the "charity-enhanced" society. (e.g. More vaccines and disease-prevention means fewer communicably-sick people on the streets from which you could catch a disease.) This is the concept of the "free rider problem".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_rider_problem

CONSEQUENTLY - Charities are a tax on good & generous people so that bad people can reap benefits. This kind of tax makes it true that - "Giving to charity is for suckers!" QED.

THEREFORE - Any "universal good" you want done in society should be done so that all who benefit should fairly contribute to its cost. This is routinely done by: progressive income taxes to pay for police who most benefit the wealthy, excise taxes to pay for the dangers of substances that you don't want to outlaw entirely, and tolls to pay for roads used by and for the benefit of a select population.

SIDE NOTE: Organizations that don't provide a "universal good" should not be tax-exempt (or I might compromise and agree that maybe there could be a sliding scale depending on their societal benefit). IMHO.

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