[Editorial] Donation culture

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged to donate virtually all of their wealth to help children live in a better world.

What motivated the couple to make the philanthropy pledge was the birth of their daughter, named Max Chan Zuckerberg. In a long, open letter to the newborn, they said they would give 99 percent of their Facebook shares, currently worth about $45 billion, during their lives.

Zuckerberg and Chan are not simply giving away their wealth to a charity foundation. They have committed to spending their lives trying to solve what they see as the major challenges in creating a better world for children.

In the Facebook post, the couple sums up these challenges as “advancing human potential and promoting equality for all children in the next generation.” 

To meet these challenges, the couple plans to launch the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which will take the form of a limited liability company rather than a normal charity foundation, and initially focus on four projects -- personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities.

Zuckerberg’s scheme deserves applause. At a young age of 31, the successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur has set his sights not on building a business empire but on a noble cause for children.

His philanthropy pledge should inspire Korean businessmen and catalyze efforts to improve the donation culture in Korea. To stimulate charitable donations, the government first needs to change the tax system.

How the current tax system discourages donations can be illustrated by a widely reported case. A businessman named Hwang Pil-sang donated 21.5 billion won worth of shares in his company to Ajou University in 2002. The university then set up a scholarship foundation. Six years later, the tax office imposed 14 billion won in gift taxes on the foundation. As the foundation has since refused to pay the taxes, the tax office earlier this year obliged the donor to pay 22.5 billion won in taxes, including additional taxes.

Hwang could not accept the tax office’s decision. Regretting the donation he had made more than a decade ago, Hwang wondered who would donate in Korea under these circumstances.

In the United States, charitable donations are 100 percent deducted from taxable income. In France, the deduction ratio is 75 percent. In Korea, donors are given tax credits for up to 30 percent of their donations. The tax incentives need to be increased. Tax authorities also have to find ways to prevent a repeat of Hwang’s case.

In Korea, business tycoons tend to donate to charity with corporate funds instead of using their own personal wealth. When they do donate from their own pocket, it is usually after they are found to have been involved in unsavory scandals. Such a practice should change.