Eric Zolt (UCLA) presents Tax Deductions for Charitable Contributions: Domestic Activities, Foreign Activities, or None of the Above at NYU at NYU today as part of its Colloquium Series on Tax Policy and Public Finance convened by Daniel Shaviro (NYU) and Mihir Desai (Harvard Business School). Here part of the abstract:

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and 57 other billionaires have pledged to give half of their wealth for charitable purposes. The total dollar amount of potential funding for charitable activities is staggering. So is the potential loss of tax revenue. …

Should we allow tax benefits to subsidize charitable activities and allow donors to dictate how funds are spent? This Article seeks to contribute to the debate on the desirability of charitable tax deductions by focusing on a smaller part of the charitable tax world — charitable deductions for foreign assistance. …

Recent scholarship has argued for continuing to allow tax benefits to foreign charitable activities, and for extending charitable tax benefits to foreign charities, and to for-profit entities engaged in charitable activities. These arguments rest partly on the notion that there is no meaningful way to distinguish these activities or entities from domestic charities engaged in domestic charitable activities. These scholars may be right ina rguing for consistent tax treatment for domestic and foreign charitable activity. But they may be wrong in the result. The best approach may be to repeal the tax deduction for charitable contributions for both domestic and foreign charitable activities and consider other alternatives for government to provide financial support and other incentives for charitable activities.

Update: Dan Shaviro blogs the workshop here.