Prominently suggested are Act Blue and Paypal. Years ago, as a computer neophyte, I made many contributions through Act Blue. Naïve as I was, I didn’t think to check that the “make it monthly” box was automatically checked, and that I had to un-check it myself in order to prevent my account being debited by the same amount every month. I couldn’t figure out why my bank account was getting depleted so aggressively. Finally I figured it out. I wrote to Act Blue to ask if there was any way to prevent this. Someone from Act Blue wrote back to tell me what a stupid idiot I was, and gave me a set of instructions so long and elaborate, I gave up trying to figure them out. Then I found out that Act Blue takes 3.95% out of EVERY contribution, and that’s before the credit card companies take whatever their cut is. Since then, never again Act Blue. OK, they built a better mouse trap and rake in $40 million per $1 billion in contributions that go through them, and most of it goes through automatically. Good for them, but I’m done contributing to it.
Then there’s PayPal. As far as I could tell, it’s 2.49% here in EU-land, and 1.99% in the USA. The article bout it was rather opaque, so I can’t say for sure if those numbers are accurate.
DK wisely gives us peons the option of doing what we used to do a quarter century ago: send a check. It’s antiquated, but the recipient gets 100% of the contribution, and no one gets hit for the nickel-and-diming game of the mass fee collector. There are disadvantages. Since I live in the EU, and the damage to the USPS done by Trump’s man, Louis DeJoy has not been undone, any check I send to North America takes a lengthy four weeks, and costs me €1.25 stamp. I can handle that. Pre-Trump, it was five days. The ability of us Americans Abroad to make ANY kind of non-deductible contribution is curtailed anyway. Because the Double Taxation treaties are decades old, and EU countries have thought up new taxes every year to squeeze residents, AND members of Congress have, despite yearly promises, refused to take up Residence-based taxation, we Americans Abroad are severely hindered in what funds we have available to donate. The USA and Eritrea are the ONLY countries in the world that do NOT recognize residence-based taxation. Maybe Bernie Sanders will crow about some American billionaire living tax-free on a yacht moored at Monte Carlo, and maybe there even IS such a creature, but there are nine million Americans Abroad that do NOT match that description. If we were a state, we’d be right in the middle in terms of population—25th or 26th out of 50. My salary (no, I do not make $500,000) is taxed at around 73% if both countries are included, and I’m sorry, that does not leave a ton of discretionary income left over to make non-deductible contributions. The cost of living here in Germany is not cheap, and for my tax bill, the Germans give me NOTHING in return. No health insurance, no pension, zip. Just their hands outstretched and a command of “GELD HER!!” for the right to sleep in my wife’s bedroom (admittedly, worth a lot to me). Sorry for the anti-realists, but in Europe, everything is not free. In fact, nothing is. The Europeans just finance things differently. If our Democrats would like to free up a couple hundred million in yearly potential contributions, they should do something about this (the Republicans will go along, but they already have more money than we do, so who cares?). But like their Republican colleagues, they think ignorance is bliss. When Sherrod Brown called looking for a contribution (he got one, reluctantly, but his opponent was an asshole, so it was an easy decision). I asked him if he knew how many Americans Abroad there were. He guessed 250,000 to 300,000. Only underestimating our number by a factor of thirty. No wonder no one in Congress thinks we exist. The want money from people they don’t even know are here.
So, here are a couple hundred dollars coming your way, DK. Sorry for the cliché, but the check IS in the mail. Keep in mind that for me to send you $200, I have to earn $800. How’s that for a fayah shayah? No way I’m going to agree to additional fees and charges getting deducted on top of that.
