Nonprofit Coalition Urges President to Reconsider Cap on Tax Deductions
In an open letter to President Obama, the Charitable Giving Coalition, a group of nonprofits and advocacy organizations working to preserve the charitable deduction in its current form, argues that the cap on deductions for the wealthy included in the administration’s 2014 budget proposal “would spell disaster for the vital programs and services of thousands of charitable organizations and the millions of Americans who rely on them each day.”
As expected, the budget plan released by the White House on Wednesday includes a 28 percent cap on the value of all itemized deductions — including the deduction for charitable giving — for taxpayers earning more than $200,000 a year ($250,000 for joint filers). While the president has been pushing for such a cap since 2009, Independent Sector noted in a statement issued in response to the proposal that it “seems at odds with the budget’s Buffett Rule provision, which exempts the charitable deduction from the elimination of itemized deductions for taxpayers who earn more than $1 million.” The so-called Buffett Rule proposes a minimum effective tax rate of 30 percent for joint filers earning more than $1 million.
Nonprofit Coalition Creates New Charitable Deduction Website
By Zack Halper
As budget season in Washington, D.C. begins to heat up, a coalition of nonprofits has created a new website that advocates leaving the charitable deductions out of budget talks between the White House and lawmakers.
The new site, ProtectGiving.org, was created by the Charitable Giving Coalition, a group of 60 nonprofits — including the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and Independent Sector — dedicated to protecting the charitable deduction. The goal of the new site, according to Coalition, is to “provide user-friendly, accessible information about the vital role of charitable giving in America’s communities.”