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Comment by yorwba | Hacker News Reader

Of course the article is about someone who does take care of others instead of waiting for the government to do it. Hopefully there will be more people like that in the future.

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This wasn't pure charity. This is religious outreach, proselytization.

>> Powers saw a way to address a need in his community and share his faith in the process. A devout Christian, he wanted to shift from discussing the teachings of the church to living them out by helping others.

so you think he should stop? (answer: no)

I would have to know more about the situation. Providing a laundry service is good, but is a mobile service better than putting those resources into a fixed site? And, because this is private charity, how much of a tax deduction is this guy taking? Is he deducting the cost of the vehicle? If he is taking deductions then this activity is being effectively subsidized by taxpayers. That money might be better spent more efficiently on other services.

It's doubtful that this one guy is a registered charity. As a private individual you can't just claim your expenses and actions as a deduction. It's also kind of sad that your first thought when you see someone who decided to do something in his own way help your big concern is he's "inefficiently using tax deductions for his personal project". Maybe you should examine your own contributions?

>> "Powers started the program, which he dubbed Loads of Love, last year after seeing a YouTube video about Orange Sky Laundry."

The California "Loads of Love" charity which this person seems to have founded http://www.loadsoflovesb.org/

How to make donations: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx

Their FAQ re Tax: https://networkforgood.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1150073...

"Network for Good issues tax receipts at the time of donations."

So ya, this is does seem to be a registered charity and donations are tax deductible.

There is a strong sentiment in the US against paying more taxes in general to level the playing field a bit and help people in need, it's usually labeled as socialism. And now it's not even ok to use the incentives put in place for people who want to give extra money? Registering as a charity is the only way to make donations tax deductible, taking that away would basically reduce the donation and their effectiveness by the average tax rate of people with money to give, and they are usually not in the 12% bracket.

At this point I'm not a fan of higher taxes because the cost of living is going through the roof. If we had good healthcare not attached to employment, a modest cost of living, and effective social programs, I'd be happy to pay more in taxes.

I hope that more people are charitable. I don't hope there is a need for it. So many news stories of individual charity like this aren't uplifting. They are actually a depressing reminder of the failure of society and by extension government. Collectively we don't prioritize a social safety net. Some groups and ideologies reject government's role in a safety net or worse that the unfortunate are undeserving of basics like shelter and laundry.

Individual charity doesn't work at scale. Organized private charity doesn't work at scale. This is why the social security administration was established.

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