Congress’ Tax Bill Message to Charitable Nonprofits: “We Don’t Care – You’re on Your Own”
This post by Tim Delaney, President and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits was originally released by The Council of Nonprofits on December 20, 2017.
“The tax bill that Congress just passed on a party-line vote is a brazen insult to charitable nonprofits and the people we serve in communities every day. The bill will increase demands for nonprofit services by blowing a deeper hole in the federal deficit, which then will be used to ‘justify’ spending cuts to programs on which the public depends. Simultaneously, it will block resources nonprofits need to address existing and growing demands for services by reducing charitable giving by billions of dollars and taxing tax-exempt organizations to pay for huge tax cuts for wealthy corporations and individuals.
“The message to charitable nonprofits is simple: The majority in Congress doesn’t care about charitable nonprofits or the vital work you do for people in local communities; you’re on your own to do so much more for so many more with so much less.
“By doubling the standard deduction without any other adjustment to the charitable deduction, the tax bill will take giving incentives away from 90 percent of Americans, robbing communities of between $13 and $20 billion every year in funds dedicated to the public good. It is hypocritical for Congress to pass a law that claims to be about creating jobs when it will destroy almost a quarter-million nonprofit jobs as a result of the decline in giving. With Congress poised to slash government programs and now curtailing donations and eliminating the jobs of hundreds of thousands of nonprofit employees who deliver services in their communities, where are people supposed to turn for help?
“All of these are the foreseeable results of a Congress that failed to look past the short-term ‘win’ of cutting taxes to recognize the very high price the public will be expected to pay. Every Representative and Senator who voted for the tax bill will look back with deep regret for this landmark mistake and the harm they caused to the very people they are supposed to represent.”
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
- Nonprofit Analysis of the Final Tax Bill Proposal, prepared by the National Council of Nonprofits, December 17, 2017.
- Charitable Nonprofits to Congress: The Final Tax Bill Would Sabotage Our Work in Communities. Kill the Bill and Start Over., statement of the National Council of Nonprofits, December 15, 2017.
- Special Edition of Nonprofit Advocacy Matters