Yesterday, House Republicans issued their tax reform bill, H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. As was anticipated, the tax reform bill doubles the standard deduction, reducing the number of itemizers from one-third of Americans to about five percent. According to IRS data, this would remove the tax incentive for an estimated $95 billion of annual charitable giving and could reduce giving by as much as $13 billion.

We have also expressed our concerns about the proposal to streamline the private foundation (PF) excise tax at 1.4 percent, which will be a tax increase on many foundations and ultimately take money away from charities.

Charities have rallied behind a universal charitable deduction as a solution to protect against the unintended consequences of an expanded standard deduction. However, the bill released this week does not expand the charitable deduction.

Read the full article on House tax bill H.R. 1 at Alliance For Charitable Reform