Newly Passed C.A.R.E. Act Would Encourage Charitable Contributions
By Paul Ziobro
WASHINGTON – Legislation to grant new tax breaks for charitable contributions, sponsored by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., passed the Senate Wednesday without a controversial provision backed by the Bush Administration that would have opened more government funding to religious organizations.
The bill would allow tax deductions for charitable contributions by the 86 million taxpayers who do not itemize their tax returns. It would also provide $150 million a year to expand services at community and faith-based organizations.
Some local charities can expect to see an upturn in their donations if the bill passes the House, as expected, and is signed into law, according to David R. Kennedy, president and CEO of United Way of Norwalk & Wilton. Kennedy said he thinks giving tax deductions for charitable donations to residents who don’t itemize their taxes would help the local United Way get out of an expected 2 percent decline in contributions decline this year.
“One of the results of that legislation may help people feel better about the contributions they make. In doing that, they may make larger contributions than they usually would,” Kennedy said.
Lieberman, who co-authored the bi-partisan bill with Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said he was relieved the bill survived a “torturous” path to the Senate floor but was disappointed that the bill dropped President Bush’s plan to allot federal funds to religious organizations on an equal footing with secular non-profit groups.
The Charity Aid, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Act would allow taxpayers who file their taxes using a short form to deduct up to $250 for individuals and $500 for couples for charitable contributions. It also allows individuals to donate from their Individual Retirement Accounts without penalty, and provides tax deductions for donating food and books to charitable groups.
In order to win the support needed for Senate passage, proponents of the legislation were forced to drop most of its “faith-based initiative” components.
“What started out as a faith-based initiative ended up as, more broadly, a charity-based initiative,” Lieberman said at a press conference following the 95-5 Senate passage of the legislation.
In comments on the Senate floor Wednesday, Lieberman addressed the changes made to garner strong bi-partisan support for his two-year long effort: “It no longer contains any provisions targeted specifically at carving out a larger, lawful space for faith-based groups in our social service programs, a development I am disappointed about.”
Lieberman said one of the best things about the legislation was the restoration of $1.375 billion in Social Services Block Grant funding that had been promised in a 1996 welfare reform law. The addition of this money will bring the annual total for this program to $2.8 billion. The restoration could help Connecticut’s 2-1-1 Infoline, a health and human services information hotline, reopen three regional offices that closed because of a shortage of funding, Lieberman said.
Connecticut’s social service block grants have decreased about $15 million in total since 1996 and the funding increase in the bill would fully restore that gap, he said.
While the White House generally supports the bill, it objects to the increase in block grant funding.
The religious components of the bill were strongly opposed by civil rights organizations. Although most of the religious support was taken out of the legislation, the bill would still grant federal money to some religious groups that provide social services. According to Santorum, 75 percent of food pantries, 71 percent of food kitchens and 43 percent of shelters have religious affiliations.
Published in The Hour, in Connecticut.
