Budget Pressure and Changing the Charitable Deduction:
For Better or Worse?
Conference materials:
View the Agenda
Panel 1:
Reforming the Charitable Deduction: Evaluating the Impact
Audio of Panel 1 (corresponds with slides below)
Presentation by Jon Bakija
Presentation by Joseph Rosenberg
Presentation by Joseph J. Cordes
Moderator: Pamela Moomau, U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Taxation
- Jon M. Bakija, Williams College
- Joseph J. Cordes, George Washington University
- Joseph Rosenberg, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
As budgetary pressure forces policymakers to look for ways to reduce the deficit, new proposals have emerged to reform both directly and indirectly the income tax deduction for charitable contributions. With charities already struggling from increased need and decreased giving due to the recession, it is vital to understand the effects that tax reform proposals could have on the charitable sector. This session explores the impact of the income tax deduction on charitable giving and present new estimates of the effects of specific tax reform proposals on the charitable sector.
Panel 2:
Principles and Rationales Behind the Charitable Tax Deduction and Alternatives
Audio of Panel 2 (corresponds with slides below)
Presentation by Roger Colinvaux, Brian Galle, and C. Eugene Steuerle
Moderator: Elizabeth T. Boris, Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, The Urban Institute
- Roger Colinvaux, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
- Brian Galle, Boston College and Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
- C. Eugene Steuerle, The Urban Institute
The rationales for (and against) a charitable deduction, and alternatives to a deduction, go well beyond the extent to which it increases charitable contributions. This session examines how various principles and rationales including incentives, ability to pay taxes, progressivity, market-rather-than-government choice over how subsidies should be allocated affect such choices as whether to offer a charitable deduction, credit, capped incentive, or none at all.
Panel 3:
A Conversation About the Bigger Picture: Charities in Tax Reform at the Federal and State Levels
Audio of Panel 3
Selected Recent Bibliography on Property-Tax Exemption for Charities and Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs) by Evelyn Brody
Panel Outline by Evelyn Brody
Moderator: William Schambra, The Hudson Institute
- Evelyn Brody, Chicago-Kent College of Law
- Peter Dobkin Hall, Baruch College/CUNY, School of Public Affairs
- Pat Read, Pat Read Consulting
Charities as a whole or in certain subsectors remain vulnerable to tax-law changes other than to the charitable-contribution deduction. Possible changes at the federal or state level might include: targeting the income-tax exemption; curtailing demand-side subsidies or limiting itemized deductions generally; and narrowing eligibility for property-tax exemption or requesting payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs). Charities might find themselves incidentally affected by more systematic tax reform such as repealing the estate tax, lowering tax rates on individual or corporate income, or adopting income-tax credits as payroll incentives. Beyond the tax system, charities face reductions in direct government funding.
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