It’s that time of year again. Time to exploit the obscure Oregon tax law that allows that individuals who donate up to $50 to a political action committee (PAC) to knock that amount, dollar for dollar, off their taxes.
So you can either pay the state $50 more in April, or you can donate it now to a cause you actually care about. Don’t be against putting money into politics. Winning elections costs money. The problem is that there’s lots of big, corporate money in politics and not enough $50 donations from people who actually care about issues. The deadline for the PAC contribution is January 1st, though, so get moving.
Mandate Media put together this easy primer about the credit or you can look through the state’s official but more incomprehensible explanation.
The key thing to note is that you have to donate to a political group, not just a nonprofit. So that means you can’t get the money back with a donation to Planned Parenthood but you can get the money back if you cut a $50 check to Planned Parenthood’s PAC, the political arm of the organization. Same goes for Basic Rights Oregon’s PAC or the Bus Project PAC.
Wait, I’m confused. Can I “donate it to a cause I actually care about,” or do I have to give it to politics?
/bitterness off
If you don’t want to give to politics you can reap the same benefit by giving to non-profits covered by the Oregon Cultural Trust. Donate to any of over a thousand non-profits, make a matching donation to the Cultural Trust, and the entire amount of your donation will be given to you as a tax credit. http://www.culturaltrust.org/donate.php
also with the cultural trust your individual limit is $500! take that, politics.
@librarianjess: Not to be a wet blanket, but it looks as though only the matching donation to the OCT will receive a full tax credit, not the original donation that you’re matching. With the political tax credit there’s no other donation necessary…it’s a full match. Not that the other wouldn’t be great to do, if you can afford it.
For some of us, a balanced state budget is “a cause you actually care about.”
@guspasho – I think I saw one of those once. It was playing with Bigfoot and a unicorn.
And the Cultural Trust is a great alternative. I’ve been thinking about donating to OBT.
@Reymont: OBT would be an excellent alternative. Have you seen any of their “Uprising” shows? We went and saw them perform along with Horse Feathers, and it was unbelievably good. Plus, my mechanic’s son was one of the leads.
The Cultural Trust rewards you for supporting cultural nonprofits by offering a 100% tax credit for your match to the Trust. You give twice but it only costs once, since the gift to the Trust is free. The program is very broad: 1,300 arts, heritage and humanities nonprofits, organizations small and large, emerging and established. Money donated to the Trust returns to the cultural community as grants that benefit every county in Oregon. With the Cultural Trust, you are earmarking part of your state taxes for cultural funding. That’s a powerful — and rare — choice that allows to you to send state grant funds to libraries, music outreach for at-risk kids, writing workshops in rural Oregon and hundreds of other cultural programs every year.
No other state allows a tax credit for cultural giving. The Cultural Trust is one of thre best things about living in Oregon!
http://www.culturaltrust.org
@media maven: You seem to be missing the point here. The goal is to have our actual out of pocket costs be zero dollars.
@Graham: Bah humbug!
Thank you, thank you, Sarah, for some options and this reminder – being a very cheap person, I still had some money to spend on this New Year’s Eve and remembered this blog post. (I find it confusing sometimes who’s a PAC and who’s a 501(c)3). You have performed a nice service for me and the groups you mentioned here. Oh! And for married couples who file jointly, it’s $100.