Americans are some of the most generous givers on the face of the planet. They reach into their pockets and take out their checkbooks on behalf of others more often than any other industrialized nation.

Its quite possible that tax breaks are one reason why. According to a recent study by the Washington D.C.-based Independent Sector, tax breaks are important, both to the givers and the receivers. For example, the study clearly shows that giving goes up dramatically when a tax break is available to the donor. People who itemize their tax returns give an average of 3.5 times more to charity than those who do not itemize. And itemizers who intend to claim a charitable deduction give 6.1 times more than those who dont intend to claim the deduction.

Nationally, charitable contributions make a thunderous plunk in the collection plate. In 1998, American corporations gave an average of one percent of their pretax earnings to charity, for a total of $8.97 billion. Individuals followed suit, contributing to charity a total of $135 billion.