Charities Very Nervous Over Obamas Charitable Tax Code Proposal.
Charity groups are still jittery over a proposed tax change they say could cause wealthy donors to give less, despite assurances from President Obama this week that donations are unlikely to go down because of a reduction in the tax deduction for charitable contributions.
While Obama argues that his administration is trying to make sure low-income donors enjoy the same tax benefits for their giving as high-income donors, charities and the organizations that represent them say they are concerned they could end up paying the price for a more equitable tax code.
“To put any block between the donor and the charity at this time, I think, is not helpful,” said Lisa Hillman, board chairwoman for the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.
Obama told reporters during his prime-time press conference Tuesday that charities are wrong to assume the change will discourage donations.
“There’s very little evidence that this has a significant impact on charitable giving,” the president said.
But Hillman said her organization’s opposition to the change still stands.
“I want to believe him, but I don’t think that this … is helpful,” she said.
Ironically, Obama’s proposal to change tax policy is intended to help raise hundreds of billions of dollars for expanding health care — but Hillman said in the near-term, the tweak to charitable donations policy could put more strain on hospitals that rely heavily on philanthropy.
*****OK, this is what we call, in the vernacular, Spreading the wealth! Take from the donators who have the means to fund charitable programs and redistribute it to a social health care system, that will fail.*********
