Posts Tagged ‘deduction’

My grandmother often repeated the aphorism that charity begins at home. But those living in the White House and Congress just love to tweak tax policy to make charitable giving to causes beyond our doorsteps more complicated. This week President Obama’s 2010 budget plan proposes that allowable charitable tax deductions for those earning more than $250,000 per year be reduced by about 20%.

Since I led nonprofits for 30 years, I can tell you that any time the tax deduction for charitable contributions is decreased, contributions decrease. We’ve tried this before, in the Reagan administration, for example, just to be clear that it’s a bipartisan idea. Maybe that’s why Obama likes it.

At any rate, it was a bad idea then and it’s a bad idea now.

Reactions to taking away tax deductions vary by type of donor.