Are you a tax whiz?

What is the true cost of a ticket when you figure in the tax deduction? For every $100 you donate do you get ~$25 back in your return (assuming 25% tax bracket)?

FreakyDeke said:

What is the true cost of a ticket when you figure in the tax deduction? For every $100 you donate do you get ~$25 back in your return (assuming 25% tax bracket)?

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If you itemize and other deductions bring you over the standard deduction, then yes, you get that back in lowering your taxes or getting more back as a refund.

As with any deduction, if I'm not engaged or don't care about the cause, I won't donate. I do however care about the University of Minnesota and I will donate to it. A perk is being able to get good seats at a program I also support.

You can only claim 80% of the seat license as a deduction. Yes it helps. We will be there next year. Probably in the same seats. This year we had four tickets and we always gave two of them the friends and family. Next year it will probably be just two seats. A budget is a budget and there is only so much to go around.

At a very high level, assuming you itemize, it depends on your marginal tax rate. Most people will be in a (combined Federal and Minnesota) 30%+ marginal tax rate. For example, the 25% federal tax bracket for married couples starts at $73,800, which puts you at ~ a 7% Minnesota tax bracket, for a total of 32%. The 28% federal tax bracket for married couples starts at $148,850, which puts you in ~ an 8% Minnesota tax bracket, for a total of 36%. The tax brackets reach a combined 49.45% for the highest earning individuals. The tax brackets can be found in multiple spots online. Hope that helps.