Fellow Patriot: The voluntary financial generosity of supporters like you keeps our hard-hitting analysis coming. Please support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today. Thank you for your support! —Nate Jackson, Managing Editor

February 28, 2019

Charitable Giving Rises Despite New Tax Law

But growing at just 1.6%, there are a few possible culprits to take into account.

There’s no doubt about it: Republican tax reform buoyed the economy with across-the-board tax cuts. But there were elements of the law that raised legitimate concerns — most notably its possible effect on charitable giving. Because the standard deduction doubled, itemizing is no longer applicable for millions of tax filers. Theoretically, this increases the likelihood that charitable giving takes a hit. After all, if some donations are contingent on their helping to offset a taxpayer’s tax obligation, what’s to stop him or her from scaling back if charity is no longer personally beneficial?

Last year provided the first clues as to how this effect is or isn’t playing out. According to The Washington Post, “Charitable giving in the United States rose a lackluster 1.6 percent last year, despite a strong economy — a sign that the 2018 tax code overhaul could be hurting donations, according to a new study published Monday. The study by the Fundraising Effectiveness Project also reported a quickening shift away from smaller and middle-class donors in favor of wealthy donors. Money coming from donations under $1,000 fell by more than 4 percent. But gifts from major donors jumped 2.6 percent.”

Of course, the Post was strongly against the tax law from the very beginning, so it’s no surprise that it immediately puts this news in a bad light. But is it accurate? It depends on a few factors.

Essentially, there are two ways to look at this. The “lackluster” rise could be attributable to those who simply were unsure about what their tax obligations would look like given the substantial changes to the tax code. This is especially true for independent contractors. But now that they have a better idea and have ironed out the adjustments, their financial situation is more clear, meaning they know for sure how much they can give to charities. In this sense, any rise at all is a good thing.

On the other hand, the simple truth is that there are some who give to charities or nonprofits only for the tax benefits. Take away the benefits, and suddenly they have no inclination to donate whatsoever. While their willingness to provide in the first place is commendable, their benevolence is paradoxically borne out of a selfish desire.

This last point presents an interesting test case. No-strings-attached giving is a virtue. And most of us probably know people who give generously and yet still take the standard deductions out of necessity when filing a tax return without even thinking twice about it. But others are surely now leery to donate. In which case their priorities need to be reevaluated.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.