Billionaire Ronald Lauder, a powerful financial backer of the University of Pennsylvania, is threatening to cut off donations if the school doesn’t do more to fight antisemitism, CNN has learned.
The threat from Lauder, one of the heirs to the Estee Lauder cosmetics company, marks the latest fallout from donors and alumni alarmed by a Palestinian literary festival that was held on campus last month prior to the Hamas terror attacks on Israel.
Even before the Palestine Writes Literature Festival started, UPenn leaders acknowledged it would include speakers with a history of making antisemitic remarks.
Then don’t “donate”. As if we didn’t know such donations are kickbacks, money laundering and tax evasion.
Charitable donations never save more in taxes than the actual value of the donation.
Say you’re in the highest tax bracket, which is 37%. If you donate $100,000 to UPenn, your taxable income decreases by $100,000, so there’s $37,000 in taxes that you’re not paying. However, you’re now out $100,000, so you still have $63,000 less than you would have had if you’d never donated at all.
Of course, his grandkids probably won’t have a hard time getting admitted, but that doesn’t change the direct finances of the matter.