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Tax laws and altruism encourage giving
By Carl Heintze
I used to make a living by asking other people for money. No, I didn't panhandle on Main Street. It was a little more sophisticated than that, but I suppose in the end it was about the same. Understand, I wasn't asking for money for myself. I was seeking it for medical research.
What brought my previous life to mind was Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, who, with his wife, has started to give away millions, mostly for education.
Bill Gates can afford it, but so can a lot of other Americans--not millions perhaps, but something, nevertheless. Indeed, unlike many countries of the world, we have a long and honorable record of gifts for good causes (and some not so good). We call it charity. It's a tradition that seems to have begun with those hardy souls who fled Europe to find freedom here.
In the beginning, it was gifts of food, clothing and shelter. These days it is money. These days, too, it is not just altruism which makes people give. It's our tax laws. They can take it away if you don't. So, rich people (and some not-so-rich) have several reasons to give.
Generally, it was my experience that people who gave away some of their wealth liked to do it, not just because it kept their money out of the hands of the federal and state governments, but also because they liked to give. It made them feel good.
It's also a task mentioned in the Bible and the Koran and other works of major world religions. Indeed, organized religion exists mainly on the charitable giving of those who belong to religious organizations. So, asking others for money for good causes is a fairly honorable profession.
Not many people are very good at it, however.
I don't think I was. It wasn't that I felt bad about asking. It was just that I was never very good at finding people who had enough money to want to give some away. In my time, I guess I raised at least a quarter of a million dollars for medical research. And that's the proverbial drop in the bucket. But like those who gave, I got a good feeling from asking.
During my time of looking for others cash, in the flush '60s, in the days of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, it wasn't just private individuals who gave. It also was the government. In those plush days before the full impact of the Vietnam War, state and federal governments were dishing out large amounts of money. You could get a grant to "eradicate" poverty by doing almost anything from opening a medical clinic to fielding a soccer team.
It's questionable--at least it's questionable to me--how much poverty we eliminated by the Great Society, but at least it gave a lot of people something to do.
In time, of course, Vietnam and inflation came home to roost; we had a recession, government money dried up and even private giving was difficult to find. But that was awhile ago, and we're now in the midst of one of the plushest times in our history, a long sustained time of prosperity.
It's a peculiar kind of paradise, though. Some people, especially here in Silicon Valley, have more money and material goods than they've ever had before. And others are still just getting by. The division between these two groups seems to be growing. Where some few executives draw down as much as $3 million a year or more, others can't afford to buy a house in which to live.
So, it seems to me it's time to remember once more that giving is an important part of being American. Generally, the electronic industry has something less than a shining record in benefiting those less fortunate or in aiding improved health and welfare.
There are, of course, exceptions, notably David Packard and the Packard Foundation. During Packard's lifetime, hundreds of people in this valley and beyond benefited from his largess. Since his death, the Packard Foundation has grown and now has even more to hand out to appropriate causes.
Would that all the electronics industry had planned as well. The Packards are models of how excess wealth ought to be used. They've made us better for their presence. To cite only two examples, there's the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Lucile Salter Packard Hospital. Of course, not all of us can build aquariums or hospitals. But those of us who aren't billionaires, of course, can still make an impact on charity.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
