In the News
We’ll be seeing more about these topics on the national front, and will keep you apprised as they develop:
Potential Impact of Doubling of Standard Deduction
The Trump administration’s tax plan was praised by Sandra Swirski, executive director of the Alliance for Charitable Reform “for preserving the charitable deduction.” However, the tax reform proposal also doubles the standard deduction, which would reduce the number of itemizers from about one-third to about five percent, thus eliminating the charitable deduction for about 95 percent of taxpayers. In other words, more tax payers would be using the standard deduction, which does not allow for the charitable deduction, rather than taking advantage of using itemized deductions, one of which is the charitable contribution deduction. Independent Sector has noted that a number of studies suggest that doubling the standard deduction would have a significant [negative] impact on charitable giving. – TaxNotes.com May 1, 2017
Administration interest in repealing prohibition on political campaign activity by charities and churches
Several bills have been introduced to repeal or modify the ban, commonly known as the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 prohibition on political intervention by charities and churches. It would take an act of legislation to repeal the Johnson Amendment entirely. However, the practical impact of repeal would be negligible, because the IRS rarely enforces this prohibition. Many nonprofit practitioners are concerned about the impact of a repeal and believe that all exempt organization political activity should be conducted by section 527 entities. – TaxNotes.com May 1, 2017
