Trump promised millions to charity. We found less than $10,000 over 7 years.

[Human101948]

1. The rich are usually cheapskates...and that includes their wonderful charitable foundations

4. The charity scam. Another way the wealthy avoid paying taxes on their billions is to make charitable donations. If you donate property, you never have to pay income tax on that donation, whatever it costs you and how much it’s worth right now. Well you might say, at least someone benefits from the charity. Whether or not the charitable donation is a scam in whole or in part depends on the answer to that old question: qui bono? Aka, who benefits? That’s where the real scam takes place.

And there’s no legal requirement that a charity must spend its wealth. In fact, IRS rules require only that charities spend about 5 percent of their investment assets annually, and all or part of this amount can be spent on salaries and “expenses,” rather than devoted to the charitable purpose the charity purports to be serving. So, what happens with a charitable trust, set up by a billionaire, and controlled by one of the billionaire’s children? The child gets a job and a salary for life. Maybe a mansion to live in and entertain in as a fringe benefit. This is a great gig for the heir...

....Bill Gates and Warren Buffett got lots of great press in 2010, when they launched the Giving Pledge, committing America’s wealthiest to giving away half their wealth to charity. Since then lots of big names— Michael Bloomberg, Larry Ellison, Carl Icahn, George Lucas, Michael Milken, Peter Peterson, Ted Turner, Mark Zuckerberg– have all signed on. Sounds great—so philanthropic. Would it be churlish under the circumstances to ask for more details?http://www.salon.com/2013/04/12/10_tax_dodges_that_help_the_rich_get_richer_partner/