“Republican leaders would preserve the charitable deduction under a new tax proposal made public Wednesday, a key battle line for nonprofit leaders racing to ensure giving incentives remain intact as lawmakers try to rework the tax code,” report Megan O’Neil and Alex Daniels in Wednesday’s (9/27) Chronicle of Philanthropy (subscription required). “However, the plan would roughly double the standard deduction, meaning millions fewer taxpayers would itemize their tax returns. That change could reduce the value of the charitable deduction as a tax incentive and depress giving, some research shows. The Trump White House and congressional leaders say they want to simplify what they describe as an overly complicated tax code…. The standard deduction for an individual would be increased to $12,000, while the standard deduction for a couple would increase to $24,000.… But there are serious concerns about what the doubling of the standard deduction could do to charitable giving and other unintended consequences that might come with changes to the tax code. ‘Doubling the standard deduction and keeping the charitable deduction in its current form would lead to a $13 billion reduction in giving each year,’ Dan Cardinali, CEO of Independent Sector, said in a statement.”
Posted September 28, 2017
