Thursday, January 16, 2014

Obama to Renew Call to Limit Charitable Deduction

White House estimates new limit would generate $321-billion in revenue through 2021 

A tax hungry government [and what government isn't?] will always demand more and more "revenue", even if it imperils the arts, museums, private education and, or especially, religion.  After all, in its care for people and as a rallying societal force, religious institutions can appear to be a rival for the power of the government.  As history informs us, all rivals to government power must be eliminated.

I wish someone in government would read a white paper that I and a couple of colleagues wrote at Princeton eighteen years ago about the differences in government power ["hard power"] and that of religious institutions ["soft power"].  We found that when hard power and soft power cooperate, it's best for both institutions and society as a whole.  When hard power seeks to overrun, limit, or remove soft power, not only is it disruptive to the entire culture, but it weakens hard power and makes soft power more resolute.

Unfortunately, it appears that our ancient paper is not on line.  Maybe it's time to re-write it, anyway.

[By the way, $321 Billion represents what the US government borrows over a not-quite 27 day period.]