Charitable Deduction Lets Government Buy Services at 50 Cents

The charitable deduction should be kept where we want to incentivize giving (e.g. health and human services) because it lets the government obtain services at 50 cents on the dollar—forgoing $50 in taxes while the donor provides $100 of services—but it should be revisited where charities, like sham nonprofit hospitals essentially identical to for-profit ones, compete directly with for-profit industry, in which case no tax exemption is warranted.