Legislation

Nonprofits could soon face significant cuts in government aid in the wake of Monday’s announcement of an impasse among members of a congressional committee seeking to close the mounting federal deficit.

Congress voted this summer to require the federal government to slash spending in 2013 if lawmakers don’t pass a deficit-reduction bill by December 23. Now that the “super committee” in charge of drafting such a measure failed, that deadline will be hard to meet.

Members of the Direct Marketing Association and DMA Nonprofit Federation headed to Capitol Hill with the DMA Government Affairs team to participate in DMA’s Postal Hill Day, meeting with key Congressional leaders to ensure that the interests of marketers are safeguarded as the postal reform debate heats up. 

DMA members from the nonprofit community traveled to express their concern with postal legislation issues. Nonprofit mailers highlighted the dire consequences they — and their beneficiaries — would experience if Congress fails to safeguard the nonprofit postal rate preference.

At the DMA Nonprofit Federation's New York Nonprofit Conference, the Human Rights Campaign was honored as the Nonprofit Organization of the Year. One example of just how deserving HRC is of this tremendous award is its success in repealing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) legislation in the military.

In another new study on President Obama’s proposal to limit the value of the charitable deduction, the Tax Policy Center has estimated that the change would depress giving from $1.7-billion to $3.2-billion a year.

That is less than the estimate of $2.9-billion to $5.6-billion offered in another study released this month.

C. Eugene Steuerle, a fellow at the Urban Institute, mentioned the new research in testimony he provided to a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Lawmakers and witnesses at a Senate Finance Committee hearing disagreed Tuesday over whether the charitable deduction is sacrosanct­ — or fair game for policymakers who are seeking to raise federal revenue or make the tax system more fair.

The Senate committee played host to the hearing to spotlight issues involved in the debate over whether to limit the charitable deduction as part of a plan to reduce the nation’s budget deficit.

President Obama’s plan to pay for a jobs bill by limiting the tax break wealthy people get for their itemized deductions, including charitable gifts, appears dead — at least for now.

Senate Democrats have rejected that proposal, releasing legislation Thursday that outlines an alternate way to cover the bill’s $447-billion price tag — a 5.6-percent surtax on income that exceeds $1-million. Mr. Obama says he endorses the new approach.

Leaders of 19 nonprofits sent a letter to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and the 12 members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (often referred to as the “Super Committee”), asking them to protect the charitable deduction.

In the letter released yesterday, the Alliance for Charitable Reform (ACR) explains the “potential damage to Americans seeking help from nonprofit services” that limiting the charitable contribution tax deduction.

The White House says that President Obama’s jobs bill would allow nonprofits to get several tax credits designed to encourage employers to hire veterans and the long-term unemployed.

However, when nonprofit experts examined the legislation’s fine print, they discovered that the dollar amounts available to tax-exempt organizations are about two-thirds of those available to other employers.

Independent Sector, a coalition of charities and foundations, said it would push to make the “full value” of the credits available to nonprofits.

Nonprofits are gearing up to fight President Obama’s plan to pay for his jobs bill in part by limiting charitable deductions. The president wants to limit the amount all wealthy people can write off for charitable gifts as well as housing, medical expenses, and other items.

Nonprofit leaders say that a curb on deductions will stifle giving and that charity write-offs make up only a small percentage of  the money the federal treasury loses in deductions by the wealthy.

President Obama’s proposed $447-billion jobs bill would be financed mainly by limiting the percentage of income wealthy donors could write off, including tax breaks for charitable gifts.

Obama, who released the details of the plan he outlined to Congress last week, suggested limiting write-offs for itemized deductions to 28 percent of a donor’s income. The nation’s most affluent people are currently allowed to write off 35 cents of every $1 they spend on charitable giving, housing, medical expenses, and other deductible items.