Last week it seems I might have been asking for new taxes. I don’t want more taxes, they don’t know what to do with what we pay now. What I do want is for the money we all contribute to charity to go to someone who will use it for the common good. We’ve all heard stories of the misuse of charity money for parties and vacation trips. The giving I am suggesting happens in a more controlled environment than a guy in front of Kmart with a bell and a bucket.
At the bottom of your state and federal income tax returns, you can check off contributions. Your tax deductible contribution is taken from your return and goes to the charity you select.
One of the important groups that gets this kind of money is the California Senior Legislature. The CSL is a volunteer group that researches, prepared proposals and supports the process of turning that into law. They are supported only through these donations. If you mark the CA FUND FOR SENIOR CITZENS box on your state return, they use the money to help you. For this year, the need for donations was only $250,000. But by April they had less than $100,000.
The legislation they work on includes assembly bills to address elder abuse mandated reporting, health facilities, infrastructure upgrades, and elder abuse offender registry- wouldn’t you like to know if your van driver or nurses aid had a record? Senate bills like Barbara Boxers’ “Caring for an Aging America Act of 2008” are analyzed and promoted by the CSL.
I don’t want to take money away from the Salvation Army- the guy in front of Kmart. I do want charity to be used for good works, not for trips to Vegas.
The CSL Mission is: To improve the Quality of Life for Aging Californians. They can be checked out at www.4cal.org