(03) 9020 2905Donate more? Wha-a-at?! We’re already taxed to within a breath of extinction. And PM Gillard wants more next year! With what’s left, you want more … blood from stone!
I’m kidding, of course.
Regarding donations, Gen Xers have a tough set of scales to balance.
Upwardly moving and time-demanding careers, big mortgages, trying to invest for our future with any spare money (Spare? Thpppt!), young kids, education expenses, weekend taxi-driver duties to sport, creche/school committees …
Gen Xers with spare time/money? You cannot be serious! Hands up anyone with young kids who has spare time? Anyone? (“Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?”)
The point is … it doesn’t have to be much. An extra $100 or a couple of hours a year can make big differences.
If time simply doesn’t allow – but you feel guilty about it like me – donate a little more money. That way, organisations who know how to help others properly, or get money to where it’s urgently needed, can do so faster.
Here’s the way I look at donations. It certainly helps me be more generous.
If you give $50 to a registered (ie, deductible) charity, the government essentially co-funds that donation with you.
If you earn between $37,000 and $80,000, the government pays $15.75, reducing your personal donation to $34.25. Between $80,000-$180,000, the government pays $19.25 (you pay $30.75). And if you earn more than $180,000, the government pays $23.25 (you pay $26.75).
You decide the charity. And you make the government pay a portion of your donation! A win for everyone!
Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and a licensed financial adviser.