Eli Broad, a billionaire businessman, has given away more than $650 million over the last five years, to Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to establish a medical research institute, to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and to programs to improve the administration of urban schools and public education.<\/p>\n
The rich are giving more to charity than ever, but people like Mr. Broad are not the only ones footing the bill for such generosity. For every three dollars they give away, the federal government typically gives up a dollar or more in tax revenue, because of the charitable tax deduction and by not collecting estate taxes.<\/p>\n
Mr. Broad (rhymes with road) says his gifts provide a greater public benefit than if the money goes to taxes for the government to spend. \u201cI believe the public benefit is significantly greater than the tax benefit an individual receives,\u201d\u009d Mr. Broad said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a multiplier effect. What smart, entrepreneurial philanthropists and their foundations do is get greater value for how they invest their money than if the government were doing it.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
It is an argument made by many of the nation\u2019s richest people. But not all of them. Take the investor William H. Gross, also a billionaire. Mr. Gross vigorously dismisses the notion that the wealthy are helping society more effectively and efficiently than government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen millions of people are dying of AIDS and malaria in Africa, it is hard to justify the umpteenth society gala held for the benefit of a performing arts center or an art museum,\u201d\u009d he wrote in his investment commentary this month. \u201cA $30 million gift to a concert hall is not philanthropy, it is a Napoleonic coronation.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Elaborating in an interview, Mr. Gross said he did not think the public benefits from philanthropy were commensurate with the tax breaks that givers receive. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re getting the bang for the buck for gifts to build football stadiums and concert halls, with all due respect to Carnegie Hall and other institutions,\u201d\u009d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think the public would vote for spending tax dollars on those things.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n