Personally, I have some small confidence that removing tax deductibility for all charities in all countries would be better than the system we currently have – charity could more easily be more international and people worry less about chasing deductions and more about impact. In countries where tax-deductibility is a small factor I think it’s hard to justify work on expanding it (if most people don’t care). In countries where it’s a big deal then it’s worth setting up charities in those countries or trying to expand the purpose (e.g. animal welfare charities in Australia excludes most things that would help farmed animals).
I prefer matching systems like Gift Aid in the UK over tax-deductibility, but still think that charity might be better off being just treated as any other purchase (probably without goods/services taxes though).
Per my answer, I think it’s likely that eliminating tax deductibility would be net negative without other simplifications of the tax code to eliminate the alternative tax shelters.
Personally, I have some small confidence that removing tax deductibility for all charities in all countries would be better than the system we currently have – charity could more easily be more international and people worry less about chasing deductions and more about impact. In countries where tax-deductibility is a small factor I think it’s hard to justify work on expanding it (if most people don’t care). In countries where it’s a big deal then it’s worth setting up charities in those countries or trying to expand the purpose (e.g. animal welfare charities in Australia excludes most things that would help farmed animals).
I prefer matching systems like Gift Aid in the UK over tax-deductibility, but still think that charity might be better off being just treated as any other purchase (probably without goods/services taxes though).
Per my answer, I think it’s likely that eliminating tax deductibility would be net negative without other simplifications of the tax code to eliminate the alternative tax shelters.