Prevent Congress from Slashing Charitable Deductions

On October 18th an important hearing of the Senate Finance Committee ("Tax Reform Options: Incentives for Charitable Giving") was held. The link includes a summary of the hearing and also provides a link to a video of the proceedings and to .pdf files of the testimony. For those concerned about the preservation of giving incentives, the hearing went about as well as one could hope.

Notably, as observed in the summary, Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) was openly hostile to proposals to end incentives and skeptical of those that would switch them about with claims of greater net giving. Paraphrasing him, the Senator basically said, "First, do no harm."

The next venue in which harm -- much harm – may be done is in the so-called Super Committee (the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction). Their work will be done soon so the opportunity to influence outcomes is NOW. Your participation is essential, and we encourage you to add your voice. So far, twenty-five national organizations have signed the letter (click here for the text) along with more than two thousand local and regional organizations.

What you can do:

• Sign-on online at http://www.givevoice.org/letter The deadline is close of business Thursday, November 3.
• Use the DMA Legislative Action Center's web resources to send a complementary constituent email message to your senators and representatives. By going to this site: http://www.votervoice.net/core.aspx?APP=GAC&AID=1129&SiteID=-1 and clicking on "Oppose Slashing Charitable Deduction" one can access a short editable email message that is transmitted automatically (copy to sender's email address) based on home and business zip codes.

Thanks to the National Council on Nonprofits and ADRFCO for organizing this sign-on effort.