Ivy League Professors Launch Website to Donate Tax-Cut Proceeds to Charity

Jan. 3, 2011 — -- President Obama and his Republican rivals may have reached a compromise for a tax plan, but a group of Ivy League professors says the plan unfairly favors the wealthy -- and is encouraging taxpayers take a stand by donating their tax cuts to charity.

Three professors -- two from Yale and one from Cornell -- have launched GiveItBackForJobs.org, a website that allows visitors to calculate their tax cuts and pledge some of the money to charity.

"You can see what your tax cut is and, if you can afford it, you can support the kinds of programs the government would be supporting," said Daniel Markovits, a professor at Yale Law School. "It allows you to tie your charitable donations to a statement of principle that taxes should be more equally distributed."

Markovits said the tax compromise, which extended the Bush-era tax cuts, decreases funding supporting programs for the economically disadvantaged and disproportionately helps the wealthy. Current income taxes, which have a maximum rate of 35 percent, are the lower than the 50 percent under President Reagan, according to Markovits.

"You have a great deal of inequality, hardship in the middle class, and fiscal policy that's not distributing the burden equally. The tax deal that the Obama administration made combined modest stimulus to the middle class with huge giveaways to the wealthy."

Markovits said he and the others chose the name of this year's website to highlight that more jobs are what are needed for the middle class to recover from the economic downturn. He said tax cuts for the wealthy will not stimulate the economy as Republicans have argued.