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Taxation of philanthropy is a heterogeneous topic that extends to multiple scientific disciplines. For academics and practitioners working in philanthropy, it is not uncommon to turn to branches such as philosophy, law, sociology, and economics to obtain thorough answers to the questions they encounter in their research and work. To date, however, there has been no comprehensive multidisciplinary analysis of the interaction between taxation and philanthropy. The present volume seeks to fill this gap. Through this handbook, the editors also endeavored to contribute to the emerging multidisciplinary domain that can be referred to as “the science of philanthropy.” It is hoped that the readers will find the contributions in this volume not only useful but also thought provoking and that they will be encouraged to pursue such studies further.

The Routledge Handbook of Taxation and Philanthropy ventures into a territory that is still widely unexplored. It contains 30 academic contributions that aim to provide a better understanding of whether, why, and how philanthropic initiatives, understood as voluntary contributions for the common good, can and should be fostered by states through tax incentives. The topic has been addressed from a multidisciplinary and multicultural perspective - covering neuroeconomics, sociology, political science, psychology, affective sciences, philosophy, behavioral economy, and law - because of its global and multifaceted nature. It also contains the OECD report on Taxation and Philanthropy released in November 2020, which was prepared in this context as a result of a collaboration with the Geneva Centre for Philanthropy of the University of Geneva. The book is divided into four sections, exploring, respectively, the justification of tax incentives for philanthropy, theoretical and empirical insights about taxes, efficiency and donor behavior in that context, and tax incentives for cross-border philanthropy and for hybrid entities and social entrepreneurship. It is believed that this volume will be a landmark yet only the beginning of a journey in which a lot remains to be studied, learned, and said.

This contribution presents the legal framework of income tax incentives for charitable giving in Switzerland and describes the reform putting this system in place in 2006. Using a unique data set shared by the Tax Administration of the Canton of Geneva for this purpose, we provide descriptive statistics about taxpayers’ charitable giving behaviour in Geneva from 2001 to 2011. In this period, the number of taxpayers deducting charitable contributions significantly increased. In contrast, the size of individual annual deductions (both mean and median) decreases. The data show that the amount of tax deductions for charitable giving sharply increases relative to income class, and the median charitable deduction by taxpayer rises exponentially with income (i.e. years 2001 and 2011). Currently, no clear effects of the 2006 tax reform are visible; however, more in-depth studies are needed in this respect.

We introduce behavioural philanthropy, a novel interdisciplinary approach examining philanthropic decisions from the perspective of individual decision-makers. Such an approach is relevant to policymakers and law researchers who design tax-based incentives to stimulate private engagement in philanthropy. Behavioural philanthropy relies on insights from psychology, economics, and law to understand the motives that drive individuals, unveil patterns in behaviour, and identify the key forces that shape decisions in the context of philanthropy. In the first section, we highlight the relevance of individual contributions to philanthropy. Following this, we review and discuss extant research that underlies the motivations of individuals engaging in philanthropic behaviours, analyses some weaknesses of the existing approaches, and highlights the benefits of producing data in controlled environments, such as in laboratory settings. We believe that integrating the benefits of these approaches into behavioural philanthropy will: 1) promote the understanding of the psychological and affective mechanisms supporting philanthropic decision making, 2) help build new sound theories that rely on precise computational models and allow for a mechanistic understanding of the complex behaviours in philanthropy, and 3) provide implications for behaviourally informed policy that could help design efficient tax schemes to generate the most impactful giving and welfare systems across the globe.

The present article discusses several tax aspects related to corporate philanthropy. Unlike individual giving, the taxation of corporate philanthropy received – and still receives - little scientific attention. In general, legislator treats corporations as individuals for tax purposes, subjecting them to the same tax incentives for charitable giving. However, the economic research - still rather scarce - on corporate giving behaviour suggests that it is very different from the individual giving. In this article, I argue that policy makers should consider this fact when creating tax incentives for corporate philanthropy.

The present dissertation analyzes fundamental theoretical controversies related to the concept and the justification of corporate taxation. It focuses on legal, historical and public finance aspects of two legal systems: a continental one (Swiss law) and an Anglo-Saxon one (US Law). Part I focuses the analysis of the entity classification rules for corporate tax purposes: which entities are subjected to the corporate tax and under what rules. We conclude that no absolute common feature exists that would justify why certain entities are corporate taxpayers whereas others are not. Part II analyzes legal, philosophical and economic justification and criticisms of the corporate tax: why certain entities are subjected to corporate taxation. We identify several fundamental theoretical and practical controversies of the corporate taxation, such as incompatibility with the principle of individual ability to pay and distortion of the effects of the individual income taxation of corporate stakeholders (not only shareholders).

The authors study taxpayers' giving behavior in the canton of Geneva from 2001 to 2011 using tax data of the entire Geneva population.

This article explores a long-standing research and policy question on whether tax incentives for charitable giving are desirable from legal and economic perspectives. The author discusses legal and empirical aspects that are important in designing tax incentives for charitable giving. Firstly, this article introduces the general theoretical criticism related to the use of tax expenditures as policy measures. Secondly, the author reviews the most recent economic literature that studies various aspects related to the efficiency of tax incentives for charitable giving. In conclusion, both theoretical and empirical research argues that incentivizing charitable giving via tax incentives (especially tax deductions) is not the most equitable and/or the most efficient policy option, at least concerning the current forms of tax incentives. Financial incentives structured as direct expenditures, such as matching grants for charitable donations, may be a more suitable policy option. Economic literature proposes ways to make tax incentives more efficient, for instance taking into account heterogeneous taxpayers' responses to tax incentives. Such policy options should however be carefully evaluated from a legal perspective, especially in light of the ability-to-pay principle.

L'activité commerciale d'une entité fiscalement exonérée est sujette à des limites bien précises établies par le législateur. Le non-respect de ces limites entraîne un risque de perte du statut exonéré, avec toutes les conséquences en découlant (telle la non-déductibilité des dons versés en faveur des donateurs). Le fondement de cette condition d'exonération ainsi que ces limites font l'objet de la présente contribution.

This article describes the major trends in the legal framework related to tax aspects of charitable giving in Europe.

This article reviews several issues related to the Swiss tax framework in the field of philanthropy, primarily focusing on the direct taxes. It describes the philanthropy-related tax incentives in Switzerland, summarizes their main criticism and presents the ongoing proposals for legislative changes in this respect.

This book, based on the author's PhD dissertation, explores these questions via a thorough analysis of the Swiss and US corporate tax systems, considering legal, economic and philosophical aspects.

This article discusses the recent OECD report in the field of taxation and philanthropy, presenting its main findings and policy options for Switzerland. The Swiss legislator could be inspired by certain suggestions, such as clearly defining the policy goals for incentivising philanthropy with taxes, reassessing the current restrictions on tax support for cross-border philanthropy, and improving data collection on tax incentives for charitable giving.