The Season of Giving
Lasee’s Notes
As the holiday season approaches, now is the time that many of us open our purse strings to complete holiday shopping lists and also donate to our favorite charities. From bell ringers manning donation pots, to “Giving Trees” full of wish lists from those less fortunate popping up in our banks, community centers, and churches – the signs of giving, caring, and sharing are all around us.
Despite all of this generosity, a newly released study from the National Center on Wealth and Philanthropy ranked Wisconsin as the 10th lowest state in the nation for charitable giving. The study found that the average Wisconsin household donates $1,325 to charity each year. That’s more than $500 below the national average ($1,753).
According to the group’s research, based on residents’ giving adjusted for several cost factors, Wisconsinites are the 40th most generous citizens in the nation when it comes to donating to charitable groups.
Are we really that stingy here in the cheese state? I don’t think so. I believe we are mostly generous people who give what we can (time, talent, effort, goods, money, and other support), when we can. And most of us are willing to help those in need or support a worthy cause.
Then why is Wisconsin considered a low charity state?
Could it be that taxpayers believe government is giving enough of our money away already? Our government spends a lot of our money (nearly $7 billion per year) to maintain one of the most generous social welfare programs in the country. Many taxpayers may consider this to be a part of their charitable giving. They see it as government taking money out of their pockets and giving it to someone who, in government’s opinion, needs it more.
Or is it that people have become more cautious with which groups they give their money to?
Are people giving less because they aren’t sure how some of these charities may be using their donation? Concern over how much money reaches those in need has led many people to be more careful about whom they direct their charitable checks to, if anyone at all.
Many liberals would probably say the problem is that we just don’t care as much as we used to. Or that many of us have become more selfish today than in years past and we are keeping more of our money to spend on ourselves.
Their solution would most likely involve forcing you to give more of your money to the government (similar to Sen. Erpenbach’s tax shifting proposal from last week). Then they could decide which charities and social causes are worthy of support. Of course they would have to skim a little off the top for administrative costs. As a result we would all pay more.
The problem, in my opinion, is that due to decades of high taxes and government spending, many wealthy people (who are likely to give larger sums of money to charity) have left the state.
As our government has grown so have our taxes. People who have the ability to earn money understand this. They are relocating to more tax friendly states. That means they are taking their wealth, intelligence, taxes they paid, businesses, and philanthropy (charitable donations etc.) with them.
According to the non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, Wisconsin lost $4.6 billion in net worth and $450 million in net income between 1995 and 2000 (that’s only five years) due to wealthy people moving out. That was during the good times. If we had kept half of those people in the state we would likely be in the middle of the pack for charitable giving.
If we want people to give more of their money to charity, we should consider allowing them to keep more of it. That means lowering taxes by controlling government spending and borrowing. Give the taxpayers a break for a change.
If we were allowed to keep more of our money in the first place, would we make the choice to give more to charity? I think so. Unfortunately with democrats in control of 2/3 of state government, that is a question we won’t likely answer anytime soon.
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Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.
As the holiday season approaches, now is the time that many of us open our purse strings to complete holiday shopping lists and also donate to our favorite charities. From bell ringers manning donation pots, to “Giving Trees” full of wish lists from those less fortunate popping up in our banks, community centers, and churches – the signs of giving, caring, and sharing are all around us.
Despite all of this generosity, a newly released study from the National Center on Wealth and Philanthropy ranked Wisconsin as the 10th lowest state in the nation for charitable giving. The study found that the average Wisconsin household donates $1,325 to charity each year. That’s more than $500 below the national average ($1,753).
According to the group’s research, based on residents’ giving adjusted for several cost factors, Wisconsinites are the 40th most generous citizens in the nation when it comes to donating to charitable groups.
Are we really that stingy here in the cheese state? I don’t think so. I believe we are mostly generous people who give what we can (time, talent, effort, goods, money, and other support), when we can. And most of us are willing to help those in need or support a worthy cause.
Then why is Wisconsin considered a low charity state?
Could it be that taxpayers believe government is giving enough of our money away already? Our government spends a lot of our money (nearly $7 billion per year) to maintain one of the most generous social welfare programs in the country. Many taxpayers may consider this to be a part of their charitable giving. They see it as government taking money out of their pockets and giving it to someone who, in government’s opinion, needs it more.
Or is it that people have become more cautious with which groups they give their money to?
Are people giving less because they aren’t sure how some of these charities may be using their donation? Concern over how much money reaches those in need has led many people to be more careful about whom they direct their charitable checks to, if anyone at all.
Many liberals would probably say the problem is that we just don’t care as much as we used to. Or that many of us have become more selfish today than in years past and we are keeping more of our money to spend on ourselves.
Their solution would most likely involve forcing you to give more of your money to the government (similar to Sen. Erpenbach’s tax shifting proposal from last week). Then they could decide which charities and social causes are worthy of support. Of course they would have to skim a little off the top for administrative costs. As a result we would all pay more.
The problem, in my opinion, is that due to decades of high taxes and government spending, many wealthy people (who are likely to give larger sums of money to charity) have left the state.
As our government has grown so have our taxes. People who have the ability to earn money understand this. They are relocating to more tax friendly states. That means they are taking their wealth, intelligence, taxes they paid, businesses, and philanthropy (charitable donations etc.) with them.
According to the non-partisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, Wisconsin lost $4.6 billion in net worth and $450 million in net income between 1995 and 2000 (that’s only five years) due to wealthy people moving out. That was during the good times. If we had kept half of those people in the state we would likely be in the middle of the pack for charitable giving.
If we want people to give more of their money to charity, we should consider allowing them to keep more of it. That means lowering taxes by controlling government spending and borrowing. Give the taxpayers a break for a change.
If we were allowed to keep more of our money in the first place, would we make the choice to give more to charity? I think so. Unfortunately with democrats in control of 2/3 of state government, that is a question we won’t likely answer anytime soon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lasee’s Notes is a weekly column by Representative Frank Lasee, 2nd Assembly District, covering events in the Legislature and statewide.
posted by John Q Cheesehead | 3:07 PM
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