{"id":53154,"date":"2025-07-14T05:56:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T10:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=53154"},"modified":"2025-07-14T06:06:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T11:06:12","slug":"giving-it-all-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=53154","title":{"rendered":"Giving It All Away"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[ed. note: Please don’t take any tax advice from WLBOTT<\/strong>. Just to be safe, maybe don’t take any<\/em> advice from us.]<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you a wee bit peeved that the tRump administration is giving ICE a budget bigger that Israel’s military?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about a radical idea – give away so much of your income that none of your labor supports the evil machinations of the tRump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, this is very difficult to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

The American income tax system is incredibly complicated and convoluted, and filled with all kinds of special deals that won’t apply to you. You’re basically rolling the dice when you hit the TurboTax “send” button (the software’s great, but the process is dire).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

In a nutshell, you figure out your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), subtract your deductions, and pay tax on the rest. For our example, we’ll use a married couple filing jointly. <\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Through the benevolence of the IRS, our couple can use the “standard” deduction of about $29,000, or they can sift through their pile of receipts to see if they have deductions greater than $29K. Typically the only people that benefit from itemized deductions are those who have recently purchased a home and are paying large quantities of interest on their loan. If you’re renting, you’re out of luck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Let’s start with our older couple – no deductions. They have several solid charities in mind that will help offset the cruelty of tRump canceling foreign aid. They are fond of the vitamin A program of Helen Keller International<\/strong> (https:\/\/helenkellerintl.org\/<\/a>) and World Central Kitchen<\/strong> (https:\/\/wck.org\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

With their social security income and dividends from twine futures, they have an AGI of $100,000. Before they can get one cent of tax relief from the current regime, they have to donate more than the standard deduction. There is also a maximum amount they can donate – $60,000 (60% of their adjusted gross income), to get a tax deduction.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Some WLBOTT <\/strong>elders have special charities. For example, the Large Foot Research Center<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Elder G works some numbers for us.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Key assumptions<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n