[quote=flu]It would be nice if CA decides setup a “charitable donation” for the state coffer such that for every $1 donated to that charitable donation, you get a state tax credit of 90 cents against your state taxes. Doing that, would give the Federal government the middle finger as it kills two birds with one stone.

1. It gets around the $10k SALT limit…because instead of people itemizing the state tax deduction capped at $10k, they would itemize the “charitable donation”, which is currently not capped…..

2. Those of us paying AMT would have an extra bonus, because unlike state/property taxes that are AMT limited, charitable contributions are not limited under AMT…..So getting an $90 cents state tax credit for every $1 of charitable donation to the state, it would still probably work out better…..[/quote]

Great thinking there. Arizona has that, though it’s limited to about $4,800, among multiple credits. It’s dollar for dollar and some of them can even be paid up to the due date of the return. Unused credits, similar to over-payments of state taxes, can be carried over to future years.