Will tax changes penalize charities?
True philanthropy doesn’t depend on tax breaks or bracket
With the end of 2016 just days away, January means a new president and new policies. One of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed changes for the country’s tax structure is to cap the total amount of itemized deductions. (www.cbsnews. com/news/charitable-giverstrumps-tax-plan-means-movefast) This, in turn, would mean that the tax savings for giving to charitable organizations would also be capped.
What does this mean for philanthropy in this country? Will people give less because their tax benefits are capped? What about all those community nonprofit and human service organizations that rely on giving, and on government funding, to provide essential services? How will they fare?
Is this the end of philanthropy as we know it? We at the Albuquerque Community Foundation don’t think so. Giving in this country has a long history, as noted in “How Philanthropy Fuels American Success,” by Karl Zinsmeister. Zinsmeister makes these points:
■ That giving in this country has always been personal. We support the causes that we personally have a stake in.
■ That philanthropy is not and has never been only about benefiting the “poor.” Individuals and institutions have supported science, medicine, education and the infrastructure that enriches all of us, whatever our means.
Individual giving is experimental, creative and agile — it responds quickly to need and circumstance. By contrast, changing government policy is like turning a battleship — it’s a slow process that follows society instead of being on the vanguard of social trends.
The tax benefit for giving is relatively recent, only being introduced in 1917. One hundred years may seem like a long time ago, but as part of the history of giving in this country, it’s not. Prior to 1917, individuals gave despite the lack of a potential financial benefit, for myriad reasons.
Today, most of us support charitable organizations and causes whether or not we get a tax deduction. We believe in the missions of the organizations enough to fund them.
Our take at the Albuquerque Community Foundation is that policy makers are not going to do anything that injures the citizenry — it’s simply not in their interest to do so. And individuals and foundations are not going to stop working toward the goals they believe in, either. In fact, we are moving full speed ahead as a rallying point for collective impact in the greater Albuquerque area, especially as we focus on building and supporting our local entrepreneurs.
Partnership is the Albuquerque Community Foundation’s theme for 2017, and we include many different people, organizations and companies in our partnerships. We are all working together, across sectors, to achieve specific goals: implementing systems and plans to permanently change our community for the better.
Like all community foundations, the Albuquerque Community Foundation invites everyday people who live and work in our community to share their vision and passion to create something good and lasting together. We do this by turning collective giving into big local impact; giving everyone access to the power of endowment; and being devoted to the people and places that make Albuquerque special. The urge to make a difference doesn’t depend on tax breaks or tax bracket.