RE-THINKING THE DEDUCTION FOR CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS: EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF DEFICIT-REDUCTION PROPOSALS

The need for deficit reduction has prompted several proposals for modifying the income tax deduction for charitable contributions. This paper combines aggregate tax return data with data on finances of individual nonprofit organizations and data on patterns of household giving to simulate the potential effects on nonprofit organizations of scaling back the charitable deduction. The paper also reviews the various rationales for providing a tax subsidy to charitable contributions.