This is Tax Weekend for me, and I have a complaint...

[Mike 03]

I don't understand why you can deduct money that you give to a charity, but not money that you give to just another human being who is on hard times and needs it (i.e., a medical emergency or can't pay rent, etc...). I was looking at my charitable donations and they were less this year than last year because I ended up giving more to people who had emergencies--like a woman who couldn't pay for her bipolar meds, or a woman who needed to get her dog out of a legal predicament, or just people who can't afford food. You know, a friend gets laid off, or some unforeseen disaster happens to them. It's natural to want to help them, right?

I guess it would be difficult to establish "evidence" that these moneys went for particular purposes, but I wish the IRS would consider some ideas about how this might be handled. Maybe a notarized statement by the recipient that the money was used for an emergency would suffice to prove that it was a legitimate donation.

Just bitching... I hate doing taxes.

[MercutioATC]

1. Because buying booze for Uncle Otis isn't tax-deductible.

...and the only way to filter out the majority of abuses is to require that a contribution must be made to an entity that has been certified to meet certain criteria before that contribution qualifies as tax-deductible.

A pain in the ass, but necessary.

[SheilaT]

2. The charities are

registered as such with the IRS, and they report that money as income. The person you simply give money to isn't reporting it as income.

You can give away up to something like $12,000 per year to anyone ou want to without having to pay gift taxes on it. Above that amount you, not they, pay a gift tax.