Why Does the Met Gala Get a Better Tax Deal Than a Soup Kitchen?

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : Congress created the charitable deduction in 1917, just a few years after creating the income tax, because it worried the government was siphoning money from charities.
55% : It's been a few years since Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat, showed up at the Met Gala in a white dress with "Tax the Rich" printed on the back.
51% : Americans with bigger incomes get larger income tax deductions on every dollar they donate to charity.
49% : Under a matching system, the government would provide the same subsidy to everyone -- even those who don't make enough to pay income taxes -- which would remove the tax incentive for charities to chase wealthy donors.
47% : The deduction does seem to provide a modest boost to charitable giving, but another way of describing the available evidence is that most donations to charity aren't motivated by tax breaks.
42% : What does stick in my craw is that the Met gets to reap the benefits of larger federal tax breaks than your local church or soup kitchen.
41% : The Met benefits, too, because tax breaks encourage people and corporations to make larger donations.

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