Last night, a dangerous provision to politicize 501(c)(3) nonprofits was  removed from the final version of the tax reform plan that leaders in Congress are negotiating. This is  great news for all charitable nonprofits, foundations, and churches! Your phone calls and tweets on this issue made it clear how unpopular and problematic this change would be.

 

Congressional leaders hope to finalize the tax reform plan today so the House and Senate can vote on it next week. Even without the Johnson Amendment change, both the House and Senate tax plans include a variety of tax changes that are problematic for nonprofits (plus a few small changes that might benefit nonprofits). See North Carolina Center for Nonprofit's revised Comparison of Nonprofit Provisions in Congressional Tax Reform Plans. Significantly, both plans nearly double the standard deduction, meaning that only about 5% of taxpayers would itemize their taxes (both plans). The latest estimates suggest this will  reduce charitable giving by between $12 billion and $20 billion per year and lead to the loss of 220,000 or more nonprofit jobs nationally.

 

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden played a key role in keeping the Johnson Amendment intact. "I will continue to fight all attempts to eliminate this critical provision that keeps the sanctity of our religious institutions intact, prevents the flow of dark money in politics, and keeps taxpayer dollars from advancing special interest biddings," Mr. Wyden said in a statement late Thursday, December 14. Thank you Sen. Ron Wyden! More here.