The academic, tax, and financial planning communities have become more interested in how individual tax deductions, exemptions, and credits—in other words, tax incentives— affect charitable contributions, due to some major changes in tax policies. People respond differently to these changes based on their personal preferences towards various charitable causes, as well as their budget constraints and levels of financial literacy. To address this, the current study examines tax effects on educational, political, and religious charitable contributions using nationally representative, cross-sectional data (2012-2017) from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX).
