March 17,2022
As Ready for Supply
The Finance Committee meets this morning to debate methods to go about selling charitable giving in America. Individuals are beneficiant individuals, and that’s why charity is without doubt one of the key incentives embedded on the coronary heart of our tax code and a high precedence for Democrats and Republicans on this committee.
I’ve at all times stated that the charitable tax deduction is a lifeline, not a loophole. That’s by no means been extra true than it was in early 2020 when the pandemic arrived in america.
Over the course of only a few weeks that March, the pandemic worn out 1 / 4 million jobs in my residence state of Oregon. That is in a state with a workforce of simply over two million individuals. In a flash, Oregon’s unemployment charge jumped by 10 share factors. As horrible as these figures are, different states had it even worse by way of these early pandemic job losses. Greater than 22 million Individuals misplaced their jobs or had their hours decreased to zero. The unemployment charge hit 14.8 p.c, the very best ever recorded.
That financial devastation added to a starvation disaster that had been inflicting ache amongst households in America for a lot too lengthy. Based on the Youngsters’s Protection Fund, previous to the pandemic, greater than 10 million American kids had been rising up in households the place there wasn’t sufficient to eat. Black and Latino households had been twice as prone to be quick on meals. Once more, that was the state of affairs earlier than anyone had heard of Covid-19.
The disaster exploded in 2020. All people remembers the pictures of automobiles stacked up for miles exterior of meals pantries. There was an added problem of feeding susceptible kids, a lot of whom had been unable to get the free lunches they depend on at college for diet.
The committee is lucky to be joined this morning by my Portland neighbor Susannah Morgan, the CEO of the Oregon Meals Financial institution. She’s going to share with us the story of how this disaster hit Oregon households, in addition to how her great group was capable of reply by way of the 1,400 meals pantries it helps throughout Oregon and into southwest Washington. Many instances, previous to the pandemic, I’d seen the Meals Financial institution’s unbelievable work firsthand. And the Meals Financial institution discovered an additional gear over the previous two years to help households in want.
The file reveals that in 2020, in Oregon and throughout the nation, Individuals stepped up when their neighbors wanted assist. Charitable giving reached new highs. The federal and state governments additionally stepped up.
There are some essential classes this committee ought to think about going ahead, as a result of there are nonetheless hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout the nation who want help. Organizations just like the Oregon Meals Financial institution are nonetheless seeing demand at increased ranges than they did in 2019.
Two fast examples. First, the CARES Act, which the Congress handed in March 2020, included a tax deduction for charitable donations of as much as $300 for the overwhelming majority of taxpayers, who don’t itemize their tax returns. The 2017 tax legislation took among the punch out of the present charitable tax deduction by drastically lowering the variety of taxpayers who itemize. The brand new $300 deduction helped right that, and it helped promote giving in 2020. It was prolonged and expanded in 2021, however it expired on January 1st. There must be bipartisan curiosity in reviving it and increasing it to advertise much more giving.
Second, along with selling donations, the Senate ought to have a look at methods of serving to nonprofits function, hold their doorways open and hold their employees on the job. The CARES Act additionally created an Worker Retention Tax Credit score that helped save quite a lot of jobs nationwide, and it was additionally prolonged and expanded in 2021. The credit score was designed with parity for nonprofits in thoughts, in order that these nonprofits and their employees may gain advantage similar to different employers.
Final yr, together with Senator Brown, Senator Klobuchar and Senator Schatz, I additionally launched a invoice known as the WORK Now Act, which might assist nonprofits develop and rent. It could create a brand new grant program to assist nonprofits retain workers and rent unemployed Individuals— whereas additionally supporting their efforts to scale up the companies they provide.
My view is, organizations just like the Oregon Meals Financial institution are a part of the spine of the communities the place they function. Along with selling charitable giving, it’s a no-brainer that the Congress ought to search out sensible methods to assist these nonprofits do their important work too.
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