Nonprofit organizations are strongly backing a proposed amendment to coronavirus relief legislation that offers a more generous charitable giving tax break than what is in the current bill.
An amendment offered by Senate Finance Committee member James Lankford, R-Okla., to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (H.R. 748) would permit non-itemizers to deduct charitable gifts up to one-third of the standard deduction — $4,000 for individuals and $8,000 for married couples — for the 2020 tax year.
Nonprofit representatives strongly prefer Lankford’s proposal over the above-the-line charitable deduction currently in the CARES Act, which is limited to $300. More than 1,000 organizations have announced their support for Lankford’s amendment, the senator said in a March 22 release.
The $300 limit is “dramatically insufficient to address the decline in charitable giving that is likely coming as this crisis persists,” Jeffrey Moore of Independent Sector said in a March 22 blog post.
The $300 cap “is much too low to address the expected drop in charitable giving this crisis will produce,” said a March 23 letter to Lankford from the American Council on Education that was also signed by other higher education organizations. Lankford’s amendment would “substantially increase the effectiveness of this provision,” the letter said.
The National Council of Nonprofits has also called the CARES Act’s current proposal insufficient and has asked its members to add their names to a letter supporting the Lankford amendment.
“Now is the time to encourage more charitable giving, and my amendment offers Americans an incentive to do that,” Lankford said when he introduced the amendment. “I encourage my colleagues to support this amendment to encourage Americans to give more to nonprofits in our communities as they continue to support our nation’s vulnerable individuals and families in need.”
The amendment has five cosponsors.