Thune, Casey Reintroduce Bill to Encourage Year-Round Charitable Giving
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.), both members of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, today reintroduced the Charities Helping Americans Regularly Throughout the Year (CHARITY) Act, a bill that would encourage charitable giving and make it easier for foundations and other tax-exempt organizations to conduct their charitable mission. The CHARITY Act (S. 1475) builds on several significant Thune-and-Casey-supported charitable tax provisions that were signed into law the previous two Congresses, including one that makes permanent a law allowing taxpayers at least 70-and-a-half-years old to make charitable contributions directly from their IRAs. Thune and Casey introduced similar legislation last Congress.
“Carrying out charitable missions should in no way be a challenge for folks,” said Thune. “Our CHARITY Act would remove many of the unnecessary roadblocks that currently stand in the way of philanthropic giving and encourage more Americans to donate to charitable organizations. This legislation serves as a perennial vehicle for common-sense ideas to promote charitable giving, and I’m hopeful our latest version of this important, bipartisan bill will quickly make its way to the president’s desk to be signed into law.”
“The bipartisan CHARITY Act will make it simpler for more Americans to support worthy charitable causes,” said Casey. “Charities across the nation, and in Pennsylvania, are doing important work that positively impacts our communities. This legislation will help these organizations to continue and hopefully expand their charitable endeavors.”
The CHARITY Act would:
- Make donor-advised funds an eligible charity for purposes of the IRA rollover law that permits an IRA owner at least 70-and-a-half-years old to exclude from his or her gross income up to $100,000 per year in distributions made directly from the IRA to certain public charities.
- Simplify how foundations are required to calculate the federal excise tax imposed on investment income.
- Require the Treasury Department to adopt regulations that align the simplified standard mileage tax deduction rate, which applies to the use of personal vehicles for volunteer charitable services, with the mileage rate that applies for medical and moving purposes.
- Promote transparency by requiring nonprofits to file their annual returns electronically.
U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are co-sponsors of the CHARITY Act.
Bill text for S. 1475 can be located here and a bill summary here.
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The bill also reduces the excise tax paid by private foundations and exempts private foundations from excise taxes if they meet certain annual distribution requirements. It will be interesting to know how the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “scores” the bill since there will be a reduction in tax revenues as a result of its passage.
Maybe he should focus on Beto and his wife to be a little more charitable.