More on Leona and how her gift to the dogs dings taxpayers

Good opinion piece today in the NYT about how the gift Leona left to the dogs costs taxpayers (Link to full article here).

Dog Eat Your Taxes?

By RAY D. MADOFF

Published: July 9, 2008

“THE latest news from the Palace, that Leona Helmsley left instructions that her charitable bequest of as much as $8 billion be used for the care and welfare of dogs, rubs our noses in the tax deduction for charitable gifts and its common vehicle, the perpetual private foundation. Together these provide a mechanism by which American taxpayers subsidize the whims of the rich and fulfill their fantasies of immortality.”