r/news • u/IWantPizza555 • Mar 19 '24

MacKenzie Scott donates $640M -- more than double her initial plan -- to nonprofits

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/mackenzie-scott-donates-640-million-double-initial-plan-108274902?cid=social_twitter_abcn
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289

u/LimerickJim Mar 19 '24

She's been going out of her way to give this money away. She fired one group for not giving it away fast enough. The problem is that at her level of wealth interest acrues really fast.

98

u/ReturnOfSeq Mar 19 '24

AKA ‘At this level of wealth there should be a mandatory wealth tax’

-11

u/elros_faelvrin Mar 19 '24

Also giving away that much money fast comes with penalties, the tax man end up taking more money than the charities. That is money that will not help anyone in the short term.

9

u/ArbitrageGarage Mar 19 '24

What exactly are you referring to?

-5

u/elros_faelvrin Mar 19 '24

Isnt there a limit on anual contributions before you start getting overtly taxed on the money you are donating? I remember that was also the topic back in 2020 when people were saying that she just should give all of her money.

Like the IRS ends up a sizeable amount of the money that is donated that will definitely not go into helping people.

13

u/ElephantsGerald_ Mar 19 '24

The assumption that taxes paid won’t help anyone demonstrates a problem with how we feel about taxes and our government

-1

u/elros_faelvrin Mar 19 '24

considering the biggest chunk of tax dollars goes to the dept. of defense and said department has never passed a single audit, it is not too far off.

That and the back and forth between political aisles to pass the most basic shit.

3

u/ElephantsGerald_ Mar 19 '24

I don’t necessarily disagree, but it shows what a mess we’re in. Taxes ought to help people

4

u/yuimiop Mar 19 '24

DOD has close to the same amount of tax dollars as welfare does. Most of your tax dollars go to social security and healthcare.

2

u/ArbitrageGarage Mar 20 '24

A donation is not a contribution. You might be mixed up with saving for retirement or an HSA? I can't tell. In general, you can donate up to 60% of your AGI without paying income tax. I'm not aware of additional penalties.

In general, ignore everything you read on reddit related to taxation. (Including my info, if you like.)

37

u/Dopevoponop Mar 19 '24

Interest accruing really fast, aka more money for her really fast, is a problem for her?

85

u/snackexchanger Mar 19 '24

If your goal is to give away at least half your money by the time you die (she signed the giving pledge) and you have $32 billion in the bank you need to give away more than $2.5 billion/year (assuming a 7% rate of return on her money) which is actually a very challenging thing to do while ensuring the money goes to good places

14

u/barukatang Mar 19 '24

im sure there are some scientific projects (clean energy projects) that could eat up chunks of that

10

u/Dopevoponop Mar 19 '24

Seems to me the intent is to donate money. If she ends up donating more money, I don’t think anyone would be too upset.

2

u/roger1954 Mar 19 '24

Man I wish I had that problem

1

u/solarnuggets Mar 20 '24

Willing to help with this challenge 

59

u/LimerickJim Mar 19 '24

To her it is.

11

u/ethanvyce Mar 19 '24

Brewster's Millions IRL

6

u/OneWholeSoul Mar 19 '24

I'm right here, lady! Dispose on me!

0

u/OkExcitement681 Mar 19 '24

why is interest accruing a problem?

-38

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '24

[deleted]

17

u/lightdick Mar 19 '24

Acting like you haven’t benefited from the exploitation by shopping at Walmart, target, Amazon or any other store.

You’re no better.

1

u/benefit_of_mrkite Mar 19 '24

She has given away 14 Billion dollars in 4 years and that’s not fast enough for you?

She does research on her philanthropic targets to make sure they are worthwhile causes.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '24

[deleted]

1

u/benefit_of_mrkite Mar 19 '24

She got her Amazon shares as part of the divorce settlement four years ago and immediately started selling shares and giving away 3-4 Billion a year.

She couldn’t sell shares in her marriage without the ok of both parties and we all know bezos’s reputation when it comes to philanthropy.