CBO Study Examines Options For Charitable Giving And Tax Consequences

Congress and the Obama administration are looking closely at options to revise or replace the current charitable deduction. See McGuireWoods LLP news alert " Is Congress Tipping Its Hand on the Future of Charities and Charitable Deductions? "

At the request of the House Committee on the Budget, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) conducted a study of charitable giving and an analysis of the various proposed options for changing the current federal income tax treatment of charitable giving. The CBO released the results of its study, Options for Changing the Tax Treatment of Charitable Giving, on May 24, 2011. The full study can be found on the CBO's website.

Members of Congress appear to be interested in modifications to the charitable deduction and have made various proposals to replace or reform the deduction to reduce the cost of foregone revenues to the government. Some proposals would impose a floor that the charitable donations would need to exceed to