Side Stepping the Attacks (A Tax) Of State Control On Steemit - How About a Steem Charity To Write off Income Tax Against?
Given that Steem is a technology that has it's roots in anarcho-captialist logic and part of anarchism is rejection of government and that tax is theft.. Is there a way that we can creatively increase Steem's ability to help us live up to this understanding and also help ourselves and each other at the same time? Maybe there is!
I am no tax or law expert, but I do know that both the US and UK allow tax exemption status for earnings that are then donated to charity. I also know from experience that many charities are terribly run and are fundamentally little more than scams intended to make their operators rich. I don't need to go into the details of all of that background here, but will happily answer in more detail if asked. Given that charities are typically very poor choices if we want to help humanity altruistically, a new way has arisen through social media whereby people give directly to those who need the money on the ground to achieve their goals - mostly cutting out the middle man.
John St. Julien's children/animal rescue center in Tanzania is possibly the best example of this in action - you can watch his videos here. In short, he quit his job and moved to Africa to help the poor and needy, guided by his inner voice and connection to spirit. Not long after that he had a children's home with over 200 children in his care and was using Youtube etc. to bring in funds.
John shows us that this kind of approach can definitely work.
There are many on Steem that are earning a lot of money and if they declare it as taxable income, a significant amount of that will go to the government in their area who typically use a fair amount of it to enact violence around the world, to personally enrich themselves and to carry out a variety of other crimes against humanity based on greed and heartlessness.. I am not exaggerating here.
Surely we can create a sensible project that will be win, win, win, win here?
What if we create a system whereby Steemians can donate the money they would pay as tax to a Steem inspired project that then distributes the funds charitably? Maybe even exclusively to the poor and needy on the Steem blockchain? Maybe we can vote on who gets what?
Benefits:
- Self Empowerment: Money goes directly to needy people that we choose, instead of those that governments choose.
- Increased world balance: By removing money from governments, we are less karmically involved in their crimes.
- Promotion for Steem: Steem will become better known and it's PR rating will increase significantly.
- Improved balance on Steem: If poorer people have a way to receive funds they need from Steem, they may be less inclined to spam comments and chat boxes trying desperately to get funded.
The IRS in USA provides these introductory notes describing how to identify which groups we can donate to and then write off from tax reports.
Interestingly, in the UK it is possible to claim tax deductions for donating 'property' and since they class crypto as an 'asset', I imagine there might possibly be a way to align crypto as a 'property' - I am not sure.
Obviously this will not be a simple project as there are so many twists and turns in laws around the world and so many nations with their own versions of things - plus there would need to be a team to manage the project and arrange the fund transfers etc. .. But it can surely be done!
What do you think? Has someone already attempted this?
I know that @sircork's 'You are hope' charity already exists on the blockchain - has this kind of defence against 'Attacks' (a tax) been considered for 'You are hope'?
Some people I can think of who might be interested in this: @dannyshine @anarcotech @starkerz @stephenkendal @pennsif @good-karma @elear @kafkanarchy84 @adamkokesh @someguy123 @adsactly @teamsteem @v4vapid @canadian-coconut @davidpakman @jerrybanfield @drakos @aggroad @sircork
Wishing you well,
Ura Soul
Vote @ura-soul for Steem Witness!
View My Witness Application Here
(Witnesses are the computer servers that run the Steem Blockchain.
Without witnesses there is no Steem, Steemit, DTube, Utopian or
Busy... You can really help Steem by making your 30 witness votes count!
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Here's a little something you might find interesting. It was brought to my attention by @taskmaster4450. It's called Fundition.io - Steem Blockchain Decentralized Crowdfunding Platform. It was just posted 11 days ago by @sequentialvibe; I haven't had a chance to really look into it, but it seems to fit the discussion here.
Cheers :)
Oh, thanks - OK - looks interesting, yes. I just tried to sign in there but got some technical errors, so it looks like they aren't really live yet.
Hopefully @taskmaster4450 sees the shout-out and makes his way over to fill us in.
Your post brings up a very interesting idea; Over the last few days, my husband @briancourteau and I witnessed first hand the outpouring of support, love and generosity by many selfless souls here on steemit. What began as a small request via @davemccoy's post, turned into something huge; something that will stay with me for my entire lifetime. I will be following this to see where it leads for sure, and perhaps participate in it as well.
Your point is well taken regarding the details and legalities of such a project. I do see in my wanderings so many who are taking on different causes; it really is beautiful to see humanity at it's finest here. I for one am able to wear blinders and ignore some of the selfish characteristics (and characters:) on this platform because in my eyes, the good outweighs the bad.
...and if we can beat the tax man in the process, even better ;)
Oh yes, Steemians typically rise to the call of true needs - I have seen it many times. I read through your post describing your husband's experiences with the portal to spirit. I can relate as I lost my Mother to cancer not long ago and have researched it's healing for a long time. I know for sure that we reincarnate, but death is never a good thing - sometimes though, when the body has experienced catastrophic damage, there is a need for release to allow the individual to live again and heal in the next lifetime. I have a wealth of healing resources available on these subjects if you are interested - though I can imagine your time is pretty full already. Wishing you well.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply; I'm so sorry to hear about your Mother. It's a terrible thing to witness, but I understand completely what you are saying in terms of "the need for release". Our human forms can only take so much. Thank you for your offer of healing resources, but truthfully, I've worked my way to this spot of acceptance and am in tune with my consciousness. It won't of course be easy, but I feel as though I am as prepared as possible...but most days, I still hope and pray for a miracle.
I spoke to taskmaster4450 on a different post just now and he signed in yesterday with no problems. He was going to have a look now to see but perhaps it is just a glitch...kind of like the crazy bandwidth issues going on yesterday on steemit :)
Thank you again.
This is a beautiful suggestion you've made, it's my belief in not waiting for the government to do everything that served as one of the reasons I embarked on a steem powered charity project tagged PRODUCTS OF HELP INITIATIVE, a project that focuses on providing educational support to school children in the rural communities of Nigeria.
This initiative is just my own little way of giving back to the society from my earnings from steemit. You can find out more about it and the last phase of the project from the link above. I believe in the power of steem to change the world and touch humanity, I believe that Steemit thrives better on the platform of love, and charity work cannot be done in all honesty without love. I still have faith and hope in the system as a powerful tool to cause revolution. Limitless transactions, no middle man (the banks) needed, no tax, zero capital etc.
Charitable works require sacrifice for it to be successful, and I want to end by saying that a sacrifice without sacrifice is not a sacrifice. Well done @ura-soul for this beautiful suggestion
My present position is that the entire reason I built YouAreHOPE Foundation here on the steem blockchain was because I do not believe in "nations" as such, I do not believe in national "borders" as such, and I do not believe in any kind of federal involvement in my damn money or yours. A bit simply stated, for emphasis, but yes, I'm firmly anarcho-capitalist and voluntaryist.
So tax this, tax that, for now, we will go on more or less anonymously (we could be more so if need be) gathering and transferring crypto in the form of steem from those willing to give to those unfortunately in need, as we have been across several continents, a dozen countries and thousands of lives touched since last October.
I believe in the generous and voluntary nature of the people here, the transparency of the chain, the power of the borderless crypto, anonymity if desired, and directly measurable and chain documented results.
Yours in Service,
@SirCork
Witness Team #65 with partner @RhondaK
Founder @YouAreHOPE Foundation
Founder @SteemStarNetwork
Thanks for your comment. The problem we face regarding the artificial nation idea is that the huge militarised forces operated by these gangs are ready and willing to abuse people who don't pay their demands.. So while I agree that ideally we wouldn't even need to think about all this - the current situation is as such that we do. Do you have any thought about creating a mechanism for 'excusing self' from 'tax' by way of charity?
Welcome to the Church of the YouAreHOPE built on a Foundation of giving.
Our premise is that men and women of Earth are free beings of the gods of their choice and are free to worship as they wish, what they wish, wherever they wish, and should be free to move, earn, spend, and voluntarily engage in mutually agreed to exchanges of goods, currencies or services, rendered by no government, and therefore under no governmental control.
Cultures matter, traditions matter, histories matter, futures matter. Arbitrarily land mass divisions between warring elitists and the ways they enforce coercion to fund them, are of great consequence but of no interest to us in terms of participation in such affairs.
There. I have founded a church, with a provisional draft proclamation on your blockchain permanent post.
Please sign below to join the Church of YouAreHOPE.
Is that how that works?
I have a religion now. Go away tax thugs. I have lives to save, and people to feed, and friends to help me do it.
Yep, that's exactly how it works! lol
This prompted me to ask my "followers" what they thought of following this?
https://steemit.com/charity/@sircork/what-if-thought-experiments-with-sircork-episode-now-blockchain-charity-church-for-all-the-right-reasons
I have 2 main thoughts about your post, so will split it into 2 comments...
Chuck Baldwin was the 2008 Constitution Party Presidential candidate.
He has several thoughts about becoming 501c3. The situation here is; if you donate to a non tax-exempt organization, then you must first pay the state their taxes.
Here's a YouTube explaining
Here are a few articles he's written:
Chuck Baldwin has decades of first hand knowledge about jumping through the government hoops when you create a 501c3 tax-exempt organization. It would be wise to heed his advice to stay away from that with any organization you(@Ura-Soul), @SirCork, or others come up with...
I was going to suggest You Are Hope by @sircork but you already mentioned it.
Another thing that I am supporting is @rhondak's @tarc an animal shelter in her area.
I met @sircork a few months ago because I was interested in learning how to run a charity in a blockchain environment.
I have been running a charity organization @giftinkindph for the past 12 years and catres to the educational needs of children of an indigenous tribe called Aetas here in the Philippines.
We did it because the government is saying they dont have the funds to support a minority and I had to laugh when they started wanting to be involved especially during campaign season.
I think that being a charity in the blockchain is one of the best ways as it eliminated the need for involvement with the government and banks.
I for one will support charities in Steem.
Great, ok! Maybe I will add a charities page to Steem Ocean. I suggest watching the videos from John St. Julian, they are some of the most inspiring I have ever seen.
Ohhh I will as I like those kinds of stories were people just did things and it didn't matter what they left behind when they saw their calling.
I like it a great proposal. I guess my concern would be how to determine what charities are genuine. I only give to a careful selected and trust number the main being my friend in India.
I love the idea but feel it would need to guarantee the charity in someway. Also whilst I like the idea I want to be paying less tax and don't trust it legitimacy in any way so would be reluctant to start declaring my crypto! But these are my only two gripes the rest I love great idea.
Hope all is well 💯🐒
My suggestion is rather than using 'sub charities', to instead rely on the wisdom of the community to pick recipients based on their ability to provide video evidence, as John St. Julien does.
Right on sounds good! I guess is there is real evidence of what they are doing with the monies then the good ones will get the funds. The prove is on the pudding as they say. I have a friend who funds school kids in India who I give to. He should be coming onto Steem actually, I need to chase him up. I do really like this idea :) 💯🐒
I run a 501c3 charity in the U.S. I am utterly disgusted by the way charities operate, particularly the U.S.-based major animal charities like the ASPCA and HSUS. I love the business model I see in @youarehope and it does seem that @tarc is emulating it already, though it wasn't intentional. I think we're on to something here with the Blockchain and its transparency.
Thanks for your insight. I can honestly say I have never found a single charity in Britain that I know isn't a thinly veiled scam or cover for something else. I'm 100% sure the world can do better!
AMEN! Preach, brother, preach. I know for a fact we can do better. I've been boots-on-the-ground in Central Appalachia for five years actually doing the work, and I can't even get a call back from the ASPCA, HSUS, and NMHP reps in my regions. Boils my blood, how much money they take in to actually do so little for the cause.
The government use our taxes for unimaginable things. I loved when I read this ‘By removing money from governments, we are less karmically involved in their crimes’. So true. If the world does not get balanced, I in my own effort will not support the destruction.
You are correct on so many levels with your post @ura-soul.
I look forward to continued discussions you have started...
Salvation Army = a worthy cause!
Did you see Dave McCoy's post about @briancourteau and @lynncoyle1's situation?
Dozens have stepped up to the plate without regard to the taxation exempt situation. Imagine how many more would if it would cut down their tax "bills."
Hey @wizarddave, thank you for showing the true spirit of steemit through our story. Check out the comment I left for @ura-soul here; There's a Steem Blockchain Decentralized Crowdfunding Platform called Fundition.io. I left the link in my comment fyi.
You're quite welcome @lynncoyle1!
I didn't start getting Steem rewards until this year, so taxes weren't an issue last year. However, it would be nice to have a organization to run donations though. For instance, many people donated to help Brian get money for his pain medication as he is fighting cancer. https://steemit.com/life/@davemccoy/does-anyone-want-to-help
If there was a Steem charity organization, people could donate to that and get a tax write-off while still helping Brian get what he needs. I don't give for the tax write-off, but it would be a nice added bonus. If there was a group putting something together, I would be interested in knowing more about it.
A starting place would just be to have a website that lists all current charity drives on the blockchain and allow users to decide if they support them or not.
The charities would need to be registered as 501c(3) in the USA for US citizens to get the tax write-off. Although, having a website to list the ongoing initiatives would be great for people looking to give back, even without a tax advantage.
Hi @themanwithnoname. Fancy seeing you here:) Check out my comment to ura-soul; I left a link that was brought to my attention yesterday; it's called Fundition.io.