Instead of having customers donate a dollar and giving them a coupon book "worth" $30, why doesn't KFC just donate those $30 themselves (or even half)?

strawberry@kbin.earth to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 126 points –

I'm guessing it drives more profits

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Edit: I've been corrected in the comments. Happy to be wrong about this so thanks to the correctors.

Charitable donations can be written off on the businesses taxes, so by having customers pay for the donations it means the company gets to double dip. They write it off and the customer reimburses them for it.

Moral of the story: don't donate to corporations. Give it directly to a charity.

This isn't completely true...

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/06/10/fact-check-false-claim-checkout-charities-offset-corporate-taxes/7622379002/

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/walmart-checkout-charity/

I stand corrected! I'm glad to be wrong about this one. Hard not to be cynical these days and it's easy to assume ulterior motlves.

What you're describing just isn't compliant with tax law in any jurisdiction I'm aware of.

Can you explain it to me? I'm just repeating what I've been told and I'm not a financial person.

Edit: nvm, I just read the other responders links.