Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

propublica.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 284 posts

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#271

Post by SyzygistSix »

dpflan wrote: post #131

Wealth is transfer from one part of the economic system to another, and extreme wealth is basically hoarding; why is it so difficult to reach a point of diminishing returns of wealth and then give it back in some way that is more impactful than arbitrary philanthropy? One cannot simply say government is inefficient because it is pretty clear that this current system is inefficient in distributing wealth and raising t…

>Wealth is transfer from one part of the economic system to another

So no wealth is created? The vast amount of medical technology and technology in general would immediately show that this statement is completely false.

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#272

Post by AlgorithmicTime »

macintux wrote: post #136
AlgorithmicTime wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, fix government oversight of public bureaucracies and then we can have a discussion. As it is now, it's pretty clear that elected officials have little control and oversight into the bureaucracies that they nominally control and direct. Make bureaucrats firable. End Chevron deference. Bring back political appointments from the top to the bottom of the bureaucracy.

> Bring back political appointments from the top to the bottom of the bureaucracy. Good heavens no. Turn over the bureaucracy every few years, bringing in political sycophants to replace people who actually understand the system (and, by and large, follow the law instead of kowtowing to the current demagogue-in-charge)?

[dead]

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#273

Post by simonsarris »

steveBK123 wrote: post #121

I visited a park/reserve that definitely walked the line on this stuff. On the one hand it was open to the public 5 days/week, most of the year, provided you purchased!! generally-available tickets in advance. On the other hand after a few visits I learned that the giant mansion at the center of the park was still occupied by the textile baron owner who set up the foundation. This foundation was setup almost as soon…

How is this comparable? It seems like they are offering excellent public access. It looks like a very expensive garden to maintain, free for high school and college students, veterans, and children under 12, and just $2 for anyone with SNAP/EBT card (Museums for All pass). That seems very reasonable.

It looks like they also put on lots of paid (and free!) performances. This takes a lot of real live human hours to coordinate.

https://longhouse.org/collections/tickets

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#274

Post by dpflan »

SyzygistSix wrote: post #271
dpflan wrote: post #131

Wealth is transfer from one part of the economic system to another, and extreme wealth is basically hoarding; why is it so difficult to reach a point of diminishing returns of wealth and then give it back in some way that is more impactful than arbitrary philanthropy? One cannot simply say government is inefficient because it is pretty clear that this current system is inefficient in distributing wealth and raising t…

>Wealth is transfer from one part of the economic system to another So no wealth is created? The vast amount of medical technology and technology in general would immediately show that this statement is completely false.

What is wealth?

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#275

Post by steveBK123 »

simonsarris wrote: post #273
steveBK123 wrote: post #121

I visited a park/reserve that definitely walked the line on this stuff. On the one hand it was open to the public 5 days/week, most of the year, provided you purchased!! generally-available tickets in advance. On the other hand after a few visits I learned that the giant mansion at the center of the park was still occupied by the textile baron owner who set up the foundation. This foundation was setup almost as soon…

How is this comparable? It seems like they are offering excellent public access. It looks like a very expensive garden to maintain, free for high school and college students, veterans, and children under 12, and just $2 for anyone with SNAP/EBT card (Museums for All pass). That seems very reasonable. It looks like they also put on lots of paid (and free!) performances. This takes a lot of real live human hours to coo…

Well it's open 3-4.5 hours/day, 5 days/week in season. Fewer days off season. So we're not talking public park levels of access.

The bigger question is how much of a tax benefit did he get to live with that arrangement, and what % of the garden was covered by his contribution to the foundation vs other revenue.

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#276

Post by AlbertCory »

seattle_spring wrote: post #247
AlbertCory wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not much research there. So: one person who might have private sector experience. And you didn't look at the biggest nonprofit. Or the potential for kickbacks from their salaries in the form of campaign contributions. Recall that the claim was that they could make multiples of those salaries in the private sector. You're not showing much evidence for that. And of course, the overall question is, is the City getting a…

> Recall that the claim was that they could make multiples of those salaries in the private secto That claim was meant for professionals working for non-profits more broadly, not your hyper-specific example of 5 people.

OK, I think we've settled that your "it's very likely the people in those roles could make multiples more at private organizations" has no data behind it at all. Just a supposition, right?

By the way, I picked ten people, not five, just by taking the top two non-profits.

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#277

Post by larkost »

brigadier132 wrote: post #138
thfuran wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The whole thing that set this entire discussion off was the parent poster that stated everyone that implied the government was wasteful was a paid shill by billionaires. No, it wasn't.

Someone made that claim and the original poster seems to believe that "government waste" is a myth.

No, please don't generalize like that. It is not clear which "original poster" you mean, but all of the ones in this chain seem to be arguing that there is waste, but that there is no evidence that the government is not inherently more wasteful in its spending than other large organizations.

It is a common refrain in parts of the Republican Party that government spending is inherently wasteful, and we should make government more like companies, or alternately "small enough to drown in a bathtub". And this is the myth that is being addressed.

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#278

Post by nobodyandproud »

xracy wrote: post #257
nobodyandproud wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of us here know, but note that the slights of hand are just too good. They can also hire people to shill in every major forum, so there’s a huge uphill battle just to avoid getting drowned out.

I mean... People say this, as if no one knows where the money is, and we've tried everything. When in fact, everyone knows where the money is, and we've tried very little in the ways of actually taxing rich people . I have no doubt that if we actually raised taxation rates (Corporate Stock Grants is an easy one that everyone on here will pretend is impossible), corporations, and rich folks would start paying more in…

There’s power in organization, yet the middle class is disorganized.

This outcome isn’t by accident and it’s a huge undertaking to just get past the tribal bullshit just to have a sane conversation.

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#279

Post by xracy »

nobodyandproud wrote: post #278
xracy wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... People say this, as if no one knows where the money is, and we've tried everything. When in fact, everyone knows where the money is, and we've tried very little in the ways of actually taxing rich people . I have no doubt that if we actually raised taxation rates (Corporate Stock Grants is an easy one that everyone on here will pretend is impossible), corporations, and rich folks would start paying more in…

There’s power in organization, yet the middle class is disorganized. This outcome isn’t by accident and it’s a huge undertaking to just get past the tribal bullshit just to have a sane conversation.

Yeah, but that's no excuse to give up without trying...

I get it's hard, but it's not impossible. And it's probably just necessary if we want to survive as a species...

Re: How the Rich Reap Huge Tax Breaks From Private Nonprofits

#280

Post by throwawayqqq11 »

willcipriano wrote: post #54
throwawayqqq11 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know the last successful, citizen-only driven revolution? I would guess the french revolution ~1790 and it was a bloodbath. Today, the military technology has extended the power gap so much, that chopping heads off is no option for eg. north koreans without support from the outside. I think a violent revolution would only tighten the surveilance state.

The ven diagram of people who tell me that we can't possibly overthrow the government contrasted with people who say January 6th was a threat to democracy is essentially a circle.

Disagree x 2.

overthrowing the goverment via democratic means is an option too.

The circle of ppl seeing the bogaloos as idiots, preferably nowhere near any position of power is much larger.

Very distorted protortions.

Post reply on HN