Opinion: Giving to Elite Schools and Arts Groups Isn’t Charity

A large portion of giving from the very rich goes to “culture palaces” such as operas and museums or to prep schools or elite universities that donors want their children to attend, says Robert Reich in a Christian Science Monitor opinion article.

According to Congressional Budget Office figures, $33-billion of $39-billion in total charitable deductions was claimed last year by the richest 20 percent of Americans, and most of that by far benefited the wealthiest 1 percent.

A professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, Mr. Reich says gifts to wealthy arts and education institutions are an “investment in prestige” and “in the lifestyles the wealthy already enjoy and want their children to have as well. Increasingly, being rich in America means not having to come across anyone who’s not.”

In terms of economics, he says, “a tax deduction is exactly the same as government spending. Which means the government will, in effect, hand out $40 billion this year for “charity” that’s going largely to wealthy people who use much of it to enhance their lifestyles.”