re: Maybe we should all eat at Chili's a little more often

Well first you don't "write off " 100%. Maybe expense out 50% or carry it for a few years but you still spend the money and get "some" tax break. Second it is a publicly traded company who has a fiduciary duty to its stockholders. These are acts of donation that are voted upon by the board and by the stockholders at this level. This was done as a corporate duty to help fund the fight against cancer in children which helps all cancer victims which affects many Americans. If they get some sort of expense deduction why does anyone care? If they paid taxes on 50 million and did not make the donation would the Federal Government then in turn give St Jude 50 million dollars? No. Not at all.

This is the way I see it. As I said I have four friends who had a child go through treatment at St Jude. One family could not afford much and it didn't matter. It was taken care of. One had a child diagnosed with a hardball size brain tumor at 8 pm on Saturday night at OLOL. At 8am Sunday morning they were on a corporate jet out of BR to Memphis. Donated. Did not cost them a dime and their child will live partially because of that act of kindness. Did the owner of the corporate jef get to deduct part of the cost of the round trip flight? Probably so. Should they be able too? Absolutely. Do you think the parents of a 6 year old child with a cancerous brain tumor give a shite about a corporate deduction? Absolutely not. People shite on corporate America all the time and have no clue exactly what these companies do not just for them, for the economy and yes for themselves but also for humanity. It's not all greed.