Charlie Sheen.... GIVING!

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M

Meractik

Golden Member
Jul 8, 2003
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BrokenVisage said:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...nation-jasmine-faulk-20121211,0,2149128.story

He could probably afford to give a little more but $75,000 from his "pocket account" is nothing to sneeze at.
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I guarantee hes doing it for end of year purposes for taxes, and of course for the media attention to give him a warm good feeling. otherwise it would of been done in secret, kind of like the people who volunteer and put it on their resume, defeats the whole purpose.
 
J

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Meractik said:
Charlie Sheen, What a joke.

J.K. Rowling donates $15.4 million to multiple sclerosis research
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gos...erosis-jk-rowling-donates-to-ms-research.html
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Well, Sheen's gift certainly isn't AS generous, but if you consider that this was for a single person, not a foundation, and Sheen is only worth a tenth as much as Rowling, it's still a nice gesture.

Furthermore, accusing people of making charitable donations "for taxes" reflects poorly on your understanding of the tax system.
 
twinrider1

twinrider1

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2003
4,096
64
91
The donation does the same amount of good for the cancer-stricken girl whether he gets a tax break/good PR from it or not. I don't see the harm.
 
M

Meractik

Golden Member
Jul 8, 2003
1,752
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jagec said:
Well, Sheen's gift certainly isn't AS generous, but if you consider that this was for a single person, not a foundation, and Sheen is only worth a tenth as much as Rowling, it's still a nice gesture.

Furthermore, accusing people of making charitable donations "for taxes" reflects poorly on your understanding of the tax system.
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cliff-hanger, educate me?
 
J

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Meractik said:
cliff-hanger, educate me?
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Charitable gifts are tax-deductible, but all that means is that your gifts are essentially made with pre-tax dollars.

Let's say I'm in the 25% tax bracket and I get a raise of $10k. That would amount to an extra $7,500 in my pocket after taxes. If I get that raise and give $10k to charity in the same year, I can deduct the gift and not pay taxes on the raise, but I don't get any money in my pocket.

So I'm still out $7,500 on a gift of $10k.

It's better to think of it as a government gift matching program than a tax break, because that's what it amounts to. Except the matching gets better as your salary increases.;)

Although you certainly aren't the only American who was confused by this...I didn't understand it myself until I started doing my own taxes in college.
 
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M

Meractik

Golden Member
Jul 8, 2003
1,752
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jagec said:
Charitable gifts are tax-deductible, but all that means is that your gifts are essentially made with pre-tax dollars.

Let's say I'm in the 25% tax bracket and I get a raise of $10k. That would amount to an extra $7,500 in my pocket after taxes. If I get that raise and give $10k to charity in the same year, I can deduct the gift and not pay taxes on the raise, but I don't get any money in my pocket.

So I'm still out $7,500.

Although you certainly aren't the only American who was confused by this...I didn't understand it myself until I started doing my own taxes.
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Right, but you're manipulating the system into keeping yourself within a specific tax bracket where-in you end up losing money but not spending as much as you would have to pay with taxes because of the charitable gift - not to mention the other added benefits if you gain PR from it (there is value in that...*as sad as it is*)

Edit: finding a way of dealing with the 'lesser' of two evils to gain leverage in the end. *I was wrong*
 
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twinrider1

twinrider1

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2003
4,096
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You could make the case that a celebrity donation is more valuable when done publicly because of the media attention it draws to the cause.
 
Baked

Baked

Lifer
Dec 28, 2004
36,052
17
81
A donation no matter how big or small is still an act of generosity. You can't look at a person's worth and dictate how much they should donate. It's their money, not yours. How much have you given this year? Certainly not 75K. STFU and get off your high horse.
 
M

Meractik

Golden Member
Jul 8, 2003
1,752
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Baked said:
A donation no matter how big or small is still an act of generosity. You can't look at a person's worth and dictate how much they should donate. It's their money, not yours. How much have you given this year? Certainly not 75K. STFU and get off your high horse.
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I have no horse and I agree with your statement that any donation is a good donation, but I do not believe that because someone donates that they deserve or earned recognition for it, they should do it because they want too not because they want something to gain from it.
 
J

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Meractik said:
Right, but you're manipulating the system into keeping yourself within a specific tax bracket where-in you end up losing money but not spending as much as you would have to pay with taxes because of the charitable gift - not to mention the other added benefits if you gain PR from it (there is value in that...*as sad as it is*)

Edit: finding a way of dealing with the 'lesser' of two evils to gain leverage in the end.
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Another misunderstanding. The tax bracket that you're "in" isn't applied to your entire income. There is no way to keep more money in your pocket after taxes by giving it away to charity (well, unless I guess the charity is crooked and passes the money back to you through an offshore bank account, but that would be an illegal tax shelter).

In other words, if we're right at the top of the 25% tax bracket and the $10k raise bumped us into the next bracket...just for the sake of hyperbole let's say that this was an imaginary 80% bracket...the 80% would ONLY be assessed on the amount of money we made above the 25% bracket. In other words, the $10k.

So if we held onto the raise, we would still pocket $2k over what we did last year. If we gave it to charity, we would get to donate the full $10k...and pay the same taxes as last year, and have no additional money in our pocket from the raise.

Our charitable gift still cost us $2k, even with a ridiculous 80% tax rate. Top rate is only 35% right now (we'll see what happens in January).
 
M

Meractik

Golden Member
Jul 8, 2003
1,752
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0
jagec said:
Another misunderstanding. The tax bracket that you're "in" isn't applied to your entire income. There is no way to keep more money in your pocket after taxes by giving it away to charity (well, unless I guess the charity is crooked and passes the money back to you through an offshore bank account, but that would be an illegal tax shelter).

In other words, if we're right at the top of the 25% tax bracket and the $10k raise bumped us into the next bracket...just for the sake of hyperbole let's say that this was an imaginary 80% bracket...the 80% would ONLY be assessed on the amount of money we made above the 25% bracket. In other words, the $10k.

So if we held onto the raise, we would still pocket $2k over what we did last year. If we gave it to charity, we would get to donate the full $10k...and pay the same taxes as last year, and have no additional money in our pocket from the raise.

Our charitable gift still cost us $2k, even with a ridiculous 80% tax rate. Top rate is only 35% right now (we'll see what happens in January).
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I googled this, and seems you're completely correct. as several other reputable sources seem to match up, well heck.... I learned something new today. I stand corrected.
 
J

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Tweak155 said:
So Sheen should have donated $1.54 million? I get it now.
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Again, donating to an individual person is very different than donating to a foundation, and there is no "should have" about it. People give what they like...mandatory philanthropy is called "taxation".

Bill Gates is going to give away 95% of his wealth, should everyone else do the same? Will you?
 
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