Surbhi Bharadwaj

Heather Heckman

Most people around the world pay a significant portion of their income in taxes to support government services. Fulfilling this large, obligatory payment can feel like a significant financial burden, and perhaps make people feel complacent about the need for charitable giving. However, while tax revenue can fund important social services, taxes are not a replacement for charity.

If I pay my taxes, why should I also give to charity?

This article is part of a series addressing 

 of their income in personal income tax to support government services. Fulfilling this large, obligatory payment can feel like a significant financial burden, and perhaps make people feel complacent about the need for charitable giving. However, while tax revenue can fund important social services, taxes are not a replacement for charity.

Governments collect taxes from their constituents and predominantly use that revenue to pay for services that benefit their constituents. Some tax revenue is spent on altruistic goals such as helping lower-income nations via foreign aid, but the amount is substantially less than 

 --- it increases the reputation and influence of the benefactor government.

Aside from voting and engaging in activism, there's little that an average citizen can do to influence government spending. However, individual donors can exercise complete agency in directing their personal charitable donations. While governments typically need to factor in political viability when making decisions, individual donors can choose to only support the 

Donors can also choose to help groups who are not able to vote for their own interests, and/or whose interests may not be well served by government policies. These groups include (in no particular order):

, whose needs are unlikely to be well served by your own government/tax dollars 

Non-citizens and those without the right to vote (e.g., convicted felons)

Donors can also support groups that, while able to vote, are not adequately served by government programs.

, Peter Singer argues that "if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it."

Common Concerns About Donating to Charity

 Dominika Krupocin

"I'm fortunate by accident of birth that I'm born European and I've got a decent income, and all the rest of it that we get through living in Europe. Huge numbers of people haven't had this luck and it's just very unfair. There's huge inequality across the world between those people who suffer terrible conditions and those who don't. As long as there's that huge inequality, then I am motivated to keep donating a part of my income."

Member Profile: Pippa Gilbert

Meet Pippa Gilbert, originally from Great Britain, but for the last 11 years a resident of The Hague in the Netherlands. Pippa works as an analyst for an international organization and enjoys being active in her free time. She is passionate about cycling and is a member of local cycling and running clubs. She is also an active volunteer. Earlier this year, Pippa 

Pippa's journey with effective giving and charitable donations started a long time ago. At first, she tried to research charities and organizations on her own to ensure that the money she donated would be well-spent. After realizing that it was too time-consuming to identify effective organizations, Pippa turned to the 

, recalling that she had heard about its 

Pippa's motivation for giving is mainly driven by her acknowledgment of inequalities around the world:

The main factor that Pippa considers when 

 is confidence about its effectiveness. The bulk of her giving is directed toward alleviating human suffering, but she is also keen on supporting environmental and animal welfare causes:

"The quality of human life years appeals to me. That's a really rational way to look at it, how much you can improve someone's quality of life, whether it's stopping them going blind or getting ill or some sort of other form of suffering. If you can improve that, then that's one of the main things. I think that you have to worry more about humans than animals, but if you can help them be better treated, I'm happy for some of my funds to go that way, as well."

Pippa finds donating through the Giving What We Can Pledge to be particularly helpful for several reasons:

The Giving What We Can Pledge is well-structured and helps with keeping track of her donations. Pippa stresses that "if you have set a target, then the Pledge gives you something to make sure you meet it."

Taking The Pledge allows individuals to set up self-imposed goals and deadlines. Pippa explains: “I’d been meaning to increase my donating but kept putting it off because other things were more urgent. The Pledge helps me to prioritise this to make sure my goal is reached.”

It's a public commitment. Pippa cautiously states: "I think it's good, maybe, that the Pledge is public. I really like the whole idea of it, so if it's a way of promoting it to other people, that's also good."

Donating through the Giving What We Can website saves time. Pippa clarifies: "The big issue for me, over these years, has been a question of time. I, personally, just want something that doesn't cost me a lot of time. I think that the Giving What We Can website is particularly good, because it makes it really easy to donate."

Reflecting on whether she finds it difficult to give, Pippa concludes that for her, it isn't. She cannot think of any reason for not wanting to donate or for it to be difficult. When asked about her visions for the future, Pippa admits that she is not particularly optimistic about the future "with mankind being how mankind is." However, she ends telling her story with a rhetorical question: "But all you can do is just do your little bit, can't you?" If each individual does their little part, maybe there is still hope for humankind after all.

" series which profiles a selection of the Giving What We Can community. The Giving What We Can is a community of people from all walks of life, with different perspectives and motivations for giving -- all united by their desire to make a significant commitment to use their income to effectively helping others. Read more 

 to help inspire others to give more, and more effectively.

For more information about Giving What We Can we recommend you check out our 

Heather volunteers with the member interviews and content teams at Giving What We Can.

Heather Heckman

About

Articles

If I pay my taxes, why should I also give to charity?

Member Profile: Pippa Gilbert