Dolly Parton is immensely talented and her talent has made her very rich. Not only can she sing, write songs, and act, but she has wisely kept control of the publishing rights to her music, meaning she receives royalties both on her own recordings of songs she wrote and those of others, like Whitney Houston’s mega-selling recording of “I Will Always Love You.” Forbes
Much of the charitable giving by wealthy Americans is driven by a desire to avoid 50% death taxes on assets over $20M or so. Anything that goes to the government is almost entirely lost and so potentially better to give 100% to good causes, however inefficient.
Of course, much of the giving is actually to an individual's own charitable foundation which can invest the money and, annually, make more income than the required charitable spending. Such a foundation will provide jobs, perks, influence and other benefits to many generations of the benefactor's offspring.
Consider another place where charitable giving provides far less in tax benefits. In the UK, rich men tend not to try and get credit from a promise to give away all of their wealth, but instead flee to tax havens like Singapore (Dyson), the BVI (Branson), Monaco (Cleese), Cayman Islands (Connery), Bermuda (many). If Americans could also move their tax jurisdiction, I suspect this would be the popular choice here too.
Much of the charitable giving by wealthy Americans is driven by a desire to avoid 50% death taxes on assets over $20M or so. Anything that goes to the government is almost entirely lost and so potentially better to give 100% to good causes, however inefficient.
Of course, much of the giving is actually to an individual's own charitable foundation which can invest the money and, annually, make more income than the required charitable spending. Such a foundation will provide jobs, perks, influence and other benefits to many generations of the benefactor's offspring.
Consider another place where charitable giving provides far less in tax benefits. In the UK, rich men tend not to try and get credit from a promise to give away all of their wealth, but instead flee to tax havens like Singapore (Dyson), the BVI (Branson), Monaco (Cleese), Cayman Islands (Connery), Bermuda (many). If Americans could also move their tax jurisdiction, I suspect this would be the popular choice here too.