‘Quantifying that amount is imperfect, and impossi ble math,” claimed Na tional Public Radio spokeswoman Anna Christopher when asked about my recent American Thinker article, which placed the level of taxpayer funding for NPR at about 25 percent.
Christopher’s outrage was understandable: NPR’s leaders and loyal supporters routinely claim that only a tiny fraction of the network’s funds — 1 percent to 3 percent — comes directly from the federal government.
Yet that carefully phrased assertion does more to obscure than reveal. Consider what we can deduce from the network’s own claims about its revenues.
The average NPR member station, according to data on NPR’s Web site, relies on 5.6 percent “federal, state and local government funds.” Hmm: Half the national organization’s dollars come from member-station dollars; half of 5.6 percent is 2.8 percent — so NPR’s overall budget is already 2.8 percent tax-based.
Of course, that money is indirect; it passed through the member stations first, and isn’t wholly federal. Still, taxes are taxes, regardless of who collects them and through whose hands they pass.
There’s more. A closer look at the member-station budgets reveals that 10.1 percent comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — whose $500 million budget is virtually all drawn from federal taxes.
Another 13.6 percent comes from universities. Are those private universities or public, taxpayer-supported ones? In New York City, WFUV is operated by Fordham, while WSHU in Fairfield, Conn., is hosted by Sacred Heart — but further west, public universities host a large percentage of stations.
The lion’s share of member-station budgets, some 64 percent, comes from individual, business and foundation gifts. Clearly, these aren’t tax dollars — but they are tax-deductible or tax-sheltered dollars.
Could all donations to NPR stations come from people who don’t itemize deductions? Such a conclusion strains credibility. It’s far more plausible to assume (as I do) that wealthier, more tax-exposed individuals give larger gifts, resulting in average deductions in the 25 percent tax bracket. This places another 16 percent subsidy from the taxpayer into the member station’s coffers. (A $64 gift results in $16 tax savings.) That assumption is probably the closest to impossible math that I would dare.
In the end, I argue that some 41 percent of member-station revenue is derived from taxpayer sources, directly or indirectly. Since 50 percent of the network’s revenue comes from member-station moneys, we can start with a 20 percent figure for taxpayer funding for NPR.
And 10 percent of NPR’s budget derives from grants, which come from either CPB and other government entities or tax-advantaged foundations — so a figure of 25 percent as the total taxpayer burden for National Public Radio’s budget seems reasonable.
This takes us back to Anna Christopher’s claim that these “figures and assumptions are simply inaccurate.” Given that the figures are drawn from NPR’s own materials, one wonders how she questions them.
The assumptions, on the other hand, are not quite so sacrosanct. After all, what 501(c)(3) organization can quantify the tax brackets of each of its givers?
It is, indeed, “impossible math.” Perhaps the accurate figure is closer to 20 percent — but it may just as easily be closer to 30 percent. What seems incredibly clear is that NPR enjoys far more than 1 percent to 3 percent taxpayer support.
NPR does produce marvelous news and other programming, catering to a particular set of people, who are often educated in particular schools and mostly share a particular outlook on issues. Perhaps Congress shouldn’t defund NPR but recognize it for what it is: a 501(c)(4) organization along the lines of the National Rifle Association or MoveOn.
Threatened with a loss of tax-deductibility for its donations, NPR might decide to play a more even-handed game of journalism.
Mark Browning is a professor of English at Johnson County Com munity College, near Kansas City, and a regular listener of NPR and his local station, KCUR.