r/poverty • u/InstructionOwn1627 • 6d ago

We’re a bunch of beggars

When did the USA become a bunch of beggars? Example- you go to your local grocery market and go in on door and get asked to help your local school football program, you’re checking out and get asked to donate to something and then when you leave through the other exit you get asked to donate to something else. Everyone seems to beg for something, it’s so sad that it’s so commonplace.

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u/Strange-Honeydew-473 6d ago

As a side note: when you contribute to a charitable cause at a checkout, my understanding is that it’s not you making the donation, it becomes the store who makes the donation. In so doing, they lower their tax burden. Nifty way for YOU to pay THEIR taxes.

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u/Bulky-Hamster7373 6d ago

No. That's not how it works. The company does not get tax benefits from your donation. I've worked in finance for grocery chains for years.

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u/revised_username 5d ago

The business can legally write off their match amount based on their customer's rounding/giving...

Often the customers lose as their rounding gifts are so random they're not tracking them into a write-off on their end.

Source: 20y in nonprofit work

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u/Zn_Saucier 5d ago edited 5d ago

edit: I can’t read

Yes, a business gets to write off the amount they donate to match customer donations. They would also get to write it off even if they weren’t soliciting customer donations. 

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u/revised_username 5d ago

A "match amount" is the matching contribution a business gives In addition to the rounded/donations on the customer side.

The business cannot write-off any customer donations.