a first for blogs?

Hey, whaddya know, someone with actual expertise on a topic has posted about it!  Donn Zaretsky of The Art Law Blog, which I really need to add to my sidebar links, offers his thoughts on the whole tax deduction debate.  The good news for me?  He thinks there is a genuine case to be made based on the legislative history that charitable deductions are meant to reward philanthropy done domestically--a so-called "water's edge" policy by which the grant of a tax benefit compensates for the fact that the government doesn't directly supply funds, at least at the level it theoretically should.  I think I was fumbling toward something like this argument, so yay me.  The bad news?  He thinks this theory is nonsensical in light of how we actually provide charitable tax deductions.  Boo hiss.  I'll admit that Donn is right that it can't reasonably apply to all charitable deductions, so that is a problem.  I don't see why charitable deductions of one type couldn't be justified for reason x while others depend on reason y; but you'd still have to think these were good reasons, and they'd actually need to have been offered by someone at some point.  Although as I've said, I think there are arguments not yet made that seriously undercut what I've been arguing, so I'm not inclined to pursue it much further.  I'd be very happy if the government would, in fact, supply that would-be funding that's instead being siphoned off by foreign museums, though.