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So in the US there are tax credits (work the way you said) and also refundable tax credits. Refundable tax credits will end up paying you money if you don't owe anything.
I didn't realize this distinction. I am not sure the article specifies. I think the charitable interpretation then is that it's the non-refundable kind, otherwise it would be a stupid system.
One organization called the Coalition to Modify NOTA hopes to legalize compensation and then pass a federal law it has titled the End Kidney Deaths Act. As it’s written, it would award living donors $50,000 over five years — $10,000 per year — through refundable tax credits.
I stand corrected.
In that case, I may simply not understand exactly the mechanism in which the ghoulish harvesting of kidneys from the lower class would be prevented by this system, but that doesn't mean there isn't one. Their website claims that this amount merely offsets the "cost" accompanied with donating a kidney, but I don't really understand where that cost comes from (paper). They also claim that their proposal is designed to uphold the declaration of Istanbul, which among other things states "Organ donation should be a financially neutral act." Also, their proposal requires screening to ensure that the donor is not being coerced. So there do seem to be a number of safeguards here.
Still, I wouldn't advocate for the system they're suggesting without a better understanding of how exactly kidney donation would be financially neutral, and how they would prevent desperate people from using this to boost their income. But I do think we should at least consider a system like this as it would help save a lot of lives and prevent a lot of suffering.
I think it will be a lot easier to take some of these ideas into consideration when everyone has their basic needs met and universal healthcare. I think up until then, we will still have a non zero amount of people having their kidneys harvested to get a leg up in this economy.
There are a lot of things that go through my mind and I wistfully think, "ah, that will be great to try implementing once everyone has their basic needs met!"
But here's a proposal that will actually help people get their basic needs met. If we can give a healthy kidney to every (poor, starving) person in need of a kidney transplant, we'll save a lot of lives and help keep a lot of people afloat.
I would hope the proposal would keep the number of people who donate a kidney just to pay rent to a minimum. But honestly, even if there's a small number of people who do donate a kidney out of desperation, on balance isn't it still a good thing? Think of all the recipients and how much this will help them. And those few people who donated out of desperation -- how much worse off will they be? Maybe it would be ghoulish in a sense, but surely there's a system which (unlike blood donations) minimizes the harm caused and maximizes the benefits.
$50,000 is a life changing amount of money for everyone I've ever met. Hell $10,000 is.
If the regulations are so stringent as to prevent people doing this for monetary reasons, then why are we even discussing money?
This is just smoke and mirrors to get around the fact that only people who need the money will sell their kidneys. Do you think Jeff Bezos will be jumping at the opportunity to sell his kidney?
And if there's not enough monetary incentive, then we're right back where we started anyway.
I don't think it's a reach to say that we should prioritize universal healthcare, universal housing, or universal food access before opening the market up for kidneys.
Way more people die a year due to not having proper medical insurance (in the US) than due to kidney failure. More difficult to get estimates for the lethality caused by food or housing insecurity, but it doesn't take much imagination to see how these factors contribute to negative health outcomes. And these solutions not only save lives without exploiting anyone, but also raise the quality of life for everyone.