Living in Dallas with teenage kids, I prefer to give to CP for the tax deduction than spend $ on season tickets that I likely can’t use. My CP donation is tax deductible and goes to UH’s coffers. Same with season tickets but the latter isn’t deductible. Even $100 to $250 makes a difference in taxes (i.e., $35 to $82.50).
I itemize every year, especially living in a high property tax state and a rather expensive home. If the budget deal passes, I would probably cut back on some charitable giving and get a less expensive home the next time. I also wouldn’t do a cash out refi to increase my mortgage.
Good for businesses that can write off the expense while individuals cannot.
And someone asked why this benefits the wealthy? Well, because limiting or taking away mortgage interest, state and property tax deductions are helping fund the scaling back of the AMT and estate taxes. Estate taxes benefit the top 0.5% who haven’t been able to give away or gift enough to be below the $11 million gifting threshold for two parents.
It’s not a dollar for dollar trade off. If someone is donating money solely for a tax write off, they’re making a bad economic decision.
Don’t get me wrong - I’m not saying this won’t have an impact. It will. My guess is people cut back instead of eliminating though. People will likely just try to get back to the same place they were before (i.e. cut back on 20-30% of the donation).
Most of the revenue raisers are for the corporate/individual tax rate reduction and doubling the standard deduction. Then again, money is fungible and I guess what’s paying for what can be a matter of perspective. That said, this deduction is a drop in the bucket and isn’t paying for much at all. It’s also been on the chopping block a long time and already has a 20% haircut under the current law.
At the end of the day, you can easily argue it makes sense from a policy standpoint to eliminate this deduction. People are effectively deducting their season tickets because of the way schools have priced tickets. Almost all of the costs are set up as donations. I don’t think Congress intended to subsidize that.
Let’s do some tax deduction 1-0-1 here. For every one of you giving $1000 and getting $300 in tax relief, there were two others giving $2000 and getting $600 in tax relief for donating to schools like UT and A&M because those schools received 4 to 6 times the donations (besides the PUF) UH gets from donors. If all schools take a 30% dip in donations, I’m fine with that.
One of the things the new tax plan is trying to do is to make itemizing deductions less attractive by increasing the standard deduction and reducing things that can be itemized. In the end it will be a wash.
It will be a wash for some, a benefit for some, and a loss for some, but this is a football board and not Coogfans Tax Talk.
Regardless of the net effect, taking away the deduction will reduce donations. UH doesn’t benefit from losing donations, regardless of what happens at other schools.
In your assumption, UH loses 30% of donations and so do all the other schools. Which means UH closes the gap a little more with all the other schools budget-wise that receive a lot more donations.
Friends remember that we are far from this tax plan to ever see the day. So far the Republican establishment has done everything that they could to block President Trump. This is not about politics but this is actual facts. We are witnessing one of the biggest silent coup in our lifetime.
Cutting tax deductible donations will have some effect but there is only one way to dismantle the cartel/cfp.
Again, why should uta, atm, UCLA, Michigan, OSU to name a few benefit from our tax $'s and kick us to the curb when major bowls or cfp time comes?
But they will still have more TV revenue. This would not likely affect football or basketball immediately but a cut in CP coupled with the deficit the program runs means other sports may get cut or even less funding. The gap between UH and UT and ATM will get bigger as they already have more to work with.
UT relies on donations way more than we do. A friend gives $1k for UT season ticket LF donation and company matches 1 for 1. Writes off $800. I agree that this isn’t what you want the govt funding.
As you may be aware, the recent changes in tax law (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1)) eliminated the tax deduction for donations made for the right to purchase seating at college or university athletic events. As of January 1, 2018, Cougar Pride members are no longer able to deduct 80% of their “Football Per Seat” donation(s). In the case of pledges made in prior years which entitled you to purchase seating, payments received in 2017 will still be deductible at 80%. However, the IRS will not allow deductions for payments made after 2017.
_“Football Per Seat” donations will now be known as “Football Per Seat” commitments that will still be recognized in your Cougar Pride giving level and allow you to accrue priority points. The same will hold true for the upcoming “Basketball Per Seat” commitments in the Fertitta Center. Click HERE for more information regarding Cougar Pride giving levels and HERE for more information regarding priority points. _
This change in law does not impact other donations made to Houston athletics where the transaction does not include a right to purchase seating; such as Cougar Pride “Unrestricted”, Sport-Specific (i.e. 46ers, Dugout Club) or Capital Campaign (i.e. TDECU Stadium, Fertitta Center) donations.
If there is a drop in season ticket sales, it won’t be just the 25% “rebate” they get through tax returns on the donation part of the season ticket price. It will be a number of things.
Fare weather fans that only buy/renew after big seasons.
A lack of confidence in the direction Applewhite is taking the team.
Lack of interest in our home schedule that is only 6 games and includes TSU. (owe it to TSU for hosting our basketball team)
An expected blow back from hiring two coaches from Baylor crew.
Last and probably least, a minor tax deduction. (makes you wonder how it will affect the high priced seats in the Fertitta Center)
You left out the most important factor - rising cost. Rather than commit to a season ticket package, they’re content to wait for the few games they really want.
I also left out financial difficulties. I think in Houston though, for every 1 fan going into financial problems, there is another coming out of it, so it kind of balances out. Same goes for afford-ability. The cost in season tickets, when you take into account the minimum donation wasn’t optional but was a separate price, are around the same price as two years ago.
Right, but the market isn’t full of people just waiting for their ship to come in before buying season tickets. We need to expand that base of potential ST buyers to offset the losses.
