Us vs. Museums

The "value" of a item donated to a museum is not mecessarily the market value. In many cases the numbers are vastly inflated in order to entice additional donations. Let's assume you are in a high tax bracket and looking for a little relief. You find a bargain on a very rare computer and pay $10,000 for it. You haul it down to the local technology museum, who is anxious to have the donation, and agree to give them the item. In exchange you ask them to provide a receipt for $100,000 for the machine. Since it's not costing them anything and the addition to the museum will entice additional visitors, they gladly agree to provide the receipt. You claim a $100,000 donation on your tax return and pay taxes on that much less of your income. That would probably be in the 30% - 40% range. Or a savings of $30,000 to $40,000!!! So... for your $10,000 investment you: 1.) Look like a real upstanding citizen for supporting the local museum. 2.) Get your name on a plaque in the museum (free advertising). 3.) Save $30,000 to $40,000 on your taxes. The museum gets a nice addition to it's collection at no cost. Next time you go to a museum, look around. Most of the really valuable things were not donated because someone felt particularily generous. They were donated because the owners got huge tax breaks by donating them. The whole thing is a SCAM! _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com