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Conor Clarke

Conor Clarke - Conor Clarke is the editor, with Michael Kinsley, of Creative Capitalism. He was previously a fellow at The Atlantic and an editor at The Guardian. More

Conor Clarke is the editor, with Michael Kinsley, of Creative Capitalism, an economics blog that was recently published in book form by Simon and Schuster. He was previously a fellow at The Atlantic and an editor at The Guardian. He is also on Twitter.

So what doesn't count as a "class issue"?

By Conor Clarke
Mar 10 2009, 9:52 AM ET Comment

I'm confused by the The Wall Street Journal's editorial on the Obama administration's plan to cap charitable deductions:

In defense, White House budget chief Peter Orszag wrote on his blog: "If you're a teacher making $50,000 a year and decide to donate $1,000 to the Red Cross or United Way, you enjoy a tax break of $150. If you are Warren Buffet or Bill Gates and you make that same donation, you get a $350 deduction -- more than twice the break as the teacher." This Administration wants to turn even philanthropy into a class issue.

I think it would be difficult to come up with an interpretation that is more wrong. Isn't the administration is trying to make charitable deductions less of a class issue by reducing the disparity in deduction rate? Put differently: Would having a flat deduction rate be a class issue? Or is having  system in which you receive bigger subsidies as you get wealthier a "class issue"?


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