nwr writes:
Religious broadcasters often offer a book for a donation (and often that's a donation of a specific amount). They are clearly hinting that you can deduct what you pay for the book as a charitable donation.
But before deducting on your taxes, you must subtract the fair market value of the book. The US tax code is pretty clear; you can only deduct contributions in excess of the fair market value of the goods that you received. The larger Christian ministries (and any to which you donate more than $250, I believe) make this easy to do by sending you a year-end statement.
I often listen to a specific radio ministry which offers a free CD, DVD, or book for a donation in any amount. At the end of the year they send me a statement which totals my contributions and also the fair market value of what I have received, and reports the difference to me as the amount I may deduct from my taxes.
"Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." — Albert Einstein
I am very astonished that the scientific picture of the real world around me is very deficient. It gives us a lot of factual information, puts all of our experience in a magnificently consistent order, but it is ghastly silent about all and sundry that is really near to our heart, that really matters to us. It cannot tell us a word about red and blue, bitter and sweet, physical pain and physical delight; it knows nothing of beautiful and ugly, good or bad, God and eternity. Science sometimes pretends to answer questions in these domains, but the answers are very often so silly that we are not inclined to take them seriously. — Erwin Schroedinger
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