Travel guru Rick Steves gives $1M to arts center

The Seattle Times ^ | August 26, 2011 | The Associated Press

[RitchieAprile]

EDMONDS, Wash. — Travel guru Rick Steves says he's trying to make a political statement by giving $1 million to an arts center in his hometown.

He says the amount equals what he saved from tax cuts approved by former President George W. Bush beginning in 2001. The Herald newspaper of Everett reports ( http://bit.ly/quuOap) that Steves says he's alarmed that the tax burden on rich people has dropped while public funding for important local programs has been slashed.

[RitchieAprile]

Bush's fault.

[Deb]

Is this from the Onion?

[RitchieAprile]

No its from the Seattle Times.

[Deb]

Same thing.

[GeronL]

how is “arts” an important public function??

[FreedomForce]

Why didn’t he just give it to the federal government since he apparently thinks they know better what to do with his money than he does?

[HereInTheHeartland]

Important to note he didn't write the check to the government!

[seowulf]

Maybe he should have hired someone to work on his show instead of paying for crappy art.

[SparkyBass]

Betcha he takes a tax write-off on his donation.

[Carling]

Does Steves realize that his private donation won’t have to be filtered through the bloated federal government?

This is parody, right? This is why the GOP wants less taxes for the “rich”. Steves’ private donation will help fund more jobs than him giving the $1 million to federal government.

[Kenny500c]

Why doesn’t he get it?

By not paying taxes to Washington, he can donate the money to a charity of his choice.

[Kirkwood]

Too much drug use in Amsterdam.

[Baynative]

It’s great that he got direct his hard earned money towards something he believes in rather than have the government piss it away under the table.

[Myrddin]

The government has no business taxing anybody to fund art programs. Art should be good enough to attract buyers on its own. If not good enough, it deserves to go away. Subsidizing poor quality by involuntary confiscation from the productive is immoral.

BTW, STFU Rick Steves. Mind your own business.

[TADSLOS]

The Herald newspaper of Everett reports ( http://bit.ly/quuOap) that Steves says he's alarmed that the tax burden on rich people has dropped while public funding for important local programs has been slashed.

But Rick has no problem getting rich himself off of the backs of rich people who take his over-priced tours and buy his travel books...

[AmusedBystander]

...while public funding for important local programs has been slashed...

What the hell has been slashed. Government spending is at an all time high for everything.

[q_an_a]

Gee wiz Rick you get the point!! If people want something they can donate money instead of taking it from those who don’t care about what you think is important. I like music and museums so I join them and pay for admission.

[GrouchoTex]

I was thinking the same thing. His money, his choice, why complain about it?

[Menehune56]

I watched him once or twice years ago and his show was pleasant. Sounds like Rick is quite the hard leftist though.

[GrouchoTex]

He’s probably upset that the Tea Party folks like us would cut PBS funding, where he made enough money to donate the 1 million.

Sounds like a fraud.