| 摘要 | The unveiling of President Barack Obama’s first budget has prompted a mixed reaction in the philanthropic world. On the one hand, it marks a clear shift toward increased spending on the kinds of initiatives nonprofit groups have long favored, especially in education and health. On the other, it would reduce the incentive for the rich to give by curtailing the value of their charitable tax deductions. As a result, leaders in the nonprofit sector are being confronted with a tough choice: Do they favor greater public spending or increased charitable giving? A recent statement signed by many such leaders suggests that if they cannot have both, they would prefer a more active government. That would be a mistake.
The statement, “Forward Together: Empowering America’s Citizen Sector for the Change We Need,” calls for both immediate and longer term steps to increase government’s role in supporting the nation’s charities. To aid in the economic recovery, it asks for expanded public funding for organizations serving the needy and additional “investments” in buildings and other “facilities” used by nonprofits. It proposes creating a new commission to develop principles for improving collaboration between government and philanthropy. It also argues for measures to foster capacity building by charities and expanding national service programs.
Drafted under the auspices of the Johns Hopkins University Listening Post Project, the statement, which has attracted more than 100 prominent signatories, does not overlook the role of giving and volunteering. It recommends trying new incentives to increase donations of money and time (including charitable deductions for non-itemizers) and restoring the estate tax, which many believe plays an important role in encouraging people to make bequests. It also suggests increasing the deductible amount for expenses incurred in volunteering.
But the weight of the statement is clearly on the side of more government funding in areas of interest to philanthropy. Indeed, it even calls for a “permanent institutional presence” to improve the nonprofit sector’s ability to deliver public services “at all levels of government.”
The Obama administration’s budget echoes many of these proposals. It includes money for a “Social Innovation Fund” and expansion of national service. (An “Office of Social Innovation” has already been set up in the White House.) It sets aside billions of dollars for healthcare reform, the details of which remain to be developed. It requests additional spending for child care, preschool programs, and aid for college students. And it calls for an initial sum of $1 billion to be placed in an “Affordable Housing Trust” to assist low-income families. All of these have won applause in the nonprofit world.
The proposed tax change has not. The Obama administration’s budget seeks to lower the tax savings families with incomes exceeding $250,000 (or if single, $200,000) can get from charitable giving. Instead of 33 or 35 cents for each dollar in donations (depending on their tax brackets), the Obama plan would allow them to receive just 28 cents. Combined with a proposed increase in the top personal income tax rate, the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University calculates this seemingly small reduction could have cut itemized charitable giving by nearly $4 billion in 2006, the last year for which data are available.
How harmful this reduction will be for the nonprofit sector is in dispute. Some nonprofits have pointed out that the economic downturn has been far most costly. Moreover, a 2006 survey sponsored by Bank of America found that half of wealthy donors said they would not lower their charitable giving at all, even if they received no income tax deductions for their contributions.
In any case, say many experts on philanthropy, a large share of the contributions from this group go to museums, symphonies, well-endowed universities, religious organizations, and other places that may not do much for the needy. Restricting the charitable tax deduction in order to help raise the revenues necessary for the Obama administration’s spending proposals (it is forecast to produce nearly $180 billion over ten years) might be considered a worthwhile trade-off by some. But nonprofit leaders would be foolish to accept such a deal. Reducing incentives for philanthropy among the wealthy, who account for about one-third of individual donations, is too large a price to pay for what the rest of the Obama budget promises.
One reason is that the new initiatives proposed for healthcare, education, and elsewhere are often still unproven and, as in healthcare reform, even undefined. Moreover, as the statement issued by the nonprofit leaders suggests, government has not always been a good partner. While attempts to improve collaboration, such as those they propose, could be useful, the Obama administration’s plans for a large expansion in government activity will magnify the difficulties of working together, while also increasing expectations for success. A well financed, but incompetent, heavy-handed, over-regulating public sector is no friend of nonprofits, and potentially a sizable opponent.
In addition, restricting the deductibility of charitable donations will also restrict philanthropy’s ability to obtain the resources that allow it to act independently of government.
Eliminating $4 billion in charitable giving in one year would be the equivalent, and then some, of shutting down the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as zeroing out Warren Buffett. Their absence just might be noticed.
To be sure, if it successfully tries to defeat the proposed reduction in the charitable tax deduction in Congress, the nonprofit sector may avoid such losses. But the real challenge in President Obama’s budget is not just the change in the charitable tax deduction. It is also the era of large government the budget seeks to usher in.
Leslie Lenkowsky is professor of public affairs and philanthropic studies at Indiana University. A version of this article appears in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Further Reading: American Enterprise Institute president Arthur C. Brooks writes regularly on philanthropy and is author of Who Really Cares,a book examining American charitable giving, as well as the essays “Conservatives Have Answered Obama’s Call,” and “Giving Makes You Rich.”
Image by Darren Wamboldt/The Bergman Group. |
