It is definitely already possible. Here’s the instructions for donating to the Federal Government. They apparently get around $40,000 a month, so I’d be surprised if other states haven’t tried to get in on that action.
Looks like you can also Donate to Social Security. If other programs have similar things set up, you could earmark your donation in that way as well.
Can you donate for another specific program? For instance, could someone who is very supportive of space research donate to NASA?
Actually, the one I’m really interested in is even more specific. Suppose Whitaker decides to do away with the Mueller investigation by stopping funding to it. This would enable the administration to be able to truthfully say that they did not stop the Special Counsel’s efforts while actually in effect stopping them. (AIUI this was proposed at one point.) Could concerned citizens start a crowdfunding effort to pay for the investigation? I think in these circumstances a lot of money could be raised in a pretty short period of time.
According to some searches, NASA is legally allowed to accept donations, although it’s something of a challenge to figure out how to actually make those donations.
Christ, I hope not. Whatever you think of Trump, I hope you can see that allowing random individuals to fund state investigations of their pet causes would be all kinds of terrible. The justice system should absolutely not be directed by individuals with deep pockets.
It is up to Congress to say how much money the government will spend on various purposes.
Donald Trump donates his salary every quarter to a specific program, most recently the Small Business Administration. This is one of the littler things he does demonstrating lack of respect for democratic norms and procedures. Gates is right not to follow such an example.
Let’s all be clear. Bill Gates has given a significant portion of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which he controls. He received tax benefits for those contributions, even though the majority of those funds have yet to be used for true charitable purposes. The Foundation invests those funds in a variety of investments that continue to grow. The Foundation must give away a portion of its assets annually to maintain its tax status as a charitable foundation, but his actual giving to charitable purposes is no where near the amount that is publicized because it’s sitting in the Foundation.
Our system taxes wealth upon death. Whatever his motives, Gates’s donations to his foundation avoid a significant future estate tax liability.
Back in the 90’s didn’t Ted Turner pay off the US debt to the United Nations to the tune of a $1 billion or so?