So McD’s asks you, when you pay, to round up the cost of your order for charity. My question is this: I’m giving the money to McD’s, not the charity. Am I then helping them get a bigger tax deduction for corporate giving? So my 18 cents they match means they get credit for a 36 cent charitable gift?
In: Economics
No. This is a myth perpetuated by people that understand taxes about as well as [Kramer](https://youtu.be/XEL65gywwHQ?si=vCdP-wc9UCpAh2SG) does.
The donations that you make at the register are not counted as business income for the company, and similarly, it’s not counted as a deduction for them when they give it to those charities. The business simply acts as an intermediary.
You can actually claim those donations yourself on your taxes if you want, you just need to keep the receipts if you plan to itemize. Obviously the IRS isn’t going to let a company get a tax break for the same donation that you can get a tax break on.
“But I bet those evil companies just claim them as their own donations anyway!” you’ll see some people argue. But that’s just absurd. If a company wanted to cheat on their taxes, there are far easier ways to do so than by setting up some elaborate donation collection system. And the risk of fines and penalties, not to mention the PR disaster that would happen if they got caught, far outweigh any benefit they would get from claiming your 13 cents as their own.
So why do companies do this? It’s typically good PR for them, it makes them look like a charitable and socially responsible organization. But these corporations are also run by humans, and they have causes that they’re passionate about as well.
Of course you can donate directly to the charities if you want. But if it’s a charity that you’ve vetted and you want to support, there’s nothing wrong with doing it at the register.
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