Reason #247 it’s great to own a digital camera:

Digital pictures can help with your taxes! Last year, my tax guy told me that the IRS is cracking down on deductions for donations of goods because there are few ways to prove that you gave Good Will or The Salvation Army or some other thrift store $700 worth of stuff. So, how to prove that you donated golf clubs, designer shoes and valuable Ikea lamps? With the digital camera, of course!

When cleaning out our garage last month, I took the extra step of photographing the gigantic pile of clothes, furniture, dishes, and toys that would later make its way to Hope Chest, a thrift store in my neighborhood that supports a battered women’s shelter. The pictures helped me to figure out how much all that stuff was worth and allows me to prove to the IRS that I once owned all that crapola. I have the shots saved in my computer under a “Tax Pictures” file just in case I ever need them. I may even go one step further and burn them onto a disc and put them in the 2007 tax file in case my computer ever crashes.

Another in a long line of reasons that digital cameras are fantastically useful tools for everyday life.