<p>GMTplus7, you just have a way with words that I like.</p>
<p>Give Harvard 100 million dollars, it’s chump change to them. Give the same money to a school with a small endowment, it’s a game changer for that school. Which would do more good???</p>
<p>I think everyone can have an opinion about where someone else’s money goes, but trying to shame people as ‘morally wrong’ for philanthropy because the magazine author has a bias for other causes is kind of cheap if you ask me. Arguing their own case and points is one thing, trying to say what someone does in giving away their own money is ‘morally wrong’ is the sort of appeal to emotion argument that undermines any actually valid points, in my eyes.</p>
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<p>We are working hard on FAFSA etc., right now, hoping that the school could show us some mercy and give us some break. Tuition and fees alone top 50k this year and hopefully this number will go down after everything is said and done. Knock! Knock!!</p>
<p>I don’t want to shame Harvard donors for being ‘morally wrong’. I want to shame them for being ‘gullibly stupid’. </p>
<p>Like I said earlier, it’s like pouring a glass of water into the ocean. Unless you’re going to give enough to get your name on a building, I’m really having a hard time seeing the point. </p>
<p>Is the question really “is it morally wrong to donate to Harvard” or “should our tax structure be set up in such a way that gifts to places such as Harvard don’t have the tax deductability status they currently have.”</p>
<p>I don’t give money to Harvard, but I’m always puzzled at why people think they should have any say so over how others donate their money. </p>
<p>This thread is also another example of the common trait of people being in favor of higher taxes - for others.</p>
<p>@scipio, I’m not in favor of higher taxes for anyone. I am, however, in favor of removing all of the bogus deductions and credits (mortgage, charitable, carried interest, the list goes on and on). </p>
<p>This man has the right to donate money to Harvard without being called stupid, gullible or having his morals questioned. If the author of this piece believes money is better off being donated elsewhere, then I advise him to open his checkbook, do so, and shut up about it. I have a low tolerance for people who tell other people how to spend their money.</p>
<p>QLM</p>
<p>I’m not telling people how to spend their money; it’s a free country. But because it’s a free country I also have the right to say the guy is an idiot.</p>
<p>Amen, QLM.</p>
<p>It’s a free country indeed, so none of us should mind being called stupid, an idiot, gullible, or morally wrong when someone tells us they don’t agree with how we spend our money.
QLM </p>
<p>Nutty thread.</p>
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<p>You certainly have the right to say that someone is an idiot for donating money to Harvard. What you may not know is why some donors believe they should donate. My husband donates to Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GAS). He does so because when he was a graduate student Harvard really helped him. He was funded by his department–he didn’t pay tuition and got a stipend as a research assistant/teaching assistant, which is something that many graduate students get when admitted to various GAS programs at Harvard. </p>
<p>While my husband is grateful for that opportunity, it’s not the sole reason my husband donates money. While he was at Harvard, his daughter was having a very difficult time at the local public school. She had learning issues–this was in the mid-70s before IEPs and 504s–that the school couldn’t resolve. My H talked to people at Harvard about the problems, looking for a solution. Long story short–Harvard paid for H’s daughter to attend a local private school that was able to help her. They did this for two years. It really made a difference in my stepdaughter’s life. My husband feels an obligation to pay back, which is why he donates. I don’t think he’s stupid. I think he’s doing what he feels is right. I’m sure there are others like him.</p>
<p>" My H talked to people at Harvard about the problems, looking for a solution. Long story short–Harvard paid for H’s daughter to attend a local private school that was able to help her. They did this for two years. It really made a difference in my stepdaughter’s life. My husband feels an obligation to pay back, which is why he donates."</p>
<p>Too bad a story like this didn’t make it into the article. I guess it wouldn’t have proved the author’s point. I can’t imagine many (any?) other colleges doing this for a student. That is awesome.</p>
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Only the PC-Police believe people have the right to not ever be offended by something</p>
<p>I am not sure if I would go so far as to say it is morally wrong, but I decided several years ago to stop giving money to my graduate school university. For many years after receiving our MBAs my wife and I gave regularly. Of course we were making money and had money to give, plus we could make a direct connection between the University and our ability to make money. But more recently I just felt there were far more worthy, needy, and better places for my financial support, while my graduate school university would still receive multi (hundred) million dollar gifts from billionaire CEO alumni. </p>
<p>" I’m not in favor of higher taxes for anyone. I am, however, in favor of removing all of the bogus deductions and credits (mortgage, charitable, carried interest, the list goes on and on).""</p>
<p>Which of course for those people will result in paying higher taxes.</p>
<p>@scipio, you know, of course, that this can be done in a revenue-neutral way, so that those who rely on bogus deductions pay more tax, and those who don’t rely on bogus deductions pay less.</p>
<p>Of course, one person’s idea of “bogus deduction” is another person’s idea of a critical and worthy deduction. In order to not leave it up to the politicians to suck up to whatever constituency they need, you just have to get rid of all deductions and lower the tax rates. Wouldn’t life be so much easier? Though unfortunately there would be many lobbyists and tax attorneys out of a job.</p>