Pirate's Cove

Which has caused the United Way and other groups to hit Washington

(Daily Caller) Leaders of the charitable coalition the United Way swarmed Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby against the Obama administration’s proposed cap on the charitable deduction in the federal tax code. Lowering the charitable deduction has long been an Obama policy objective.

United Way US CEO Stacey Stewart and 45 local United Way CEOs hit the Hill to urge “Support for the charitable deduction and expanding incentives for charitable giving in the U.S. tax code,” according to a press release issued on United Way’s behalf. The CEOs were also pushing to strengthen the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit.

Obama proposed a cap on charitable deductions in his 2014 budget proposal in April, and it is currently being debated in Congress. The proposal would cap charitable deductions with a 28 percent limit, down from its current 39.6 percent limit on high earners. Obama has tried every year since taking office to set a 28 percent cap.

“The President’s proposal, as you know, includes the provision that would cap deductions for wealthier Americans at 28 percent—a very common-sense proposition,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said of the administration’s proposal, which directly affects those in the top tax bracket but could indirectly affect those in the bottom.

Obama’s not the only Democrat to propose reducing charitable deductions; this has gone on for quite some time, mostly because Democrats are upset that “rich” people give money to organizations instead of Government, which, in Liberal minds, should be the entity providing charity. And liberals tend to be less charitable than Conservatives when it comes to “giving back”. As one of the comments at the story notes “Charitable giving is about people deciding for themselves how their tax money is going to be spent.” Liberals do not like that. They do not like charities in direct competition with Government. They do not like that people can choose which charities they give to. Hey, there are two charities, one mentioned in the story, I refuse to give to, because they use too much for overhead and non-helping activities. I’ll give elsewhere. My choice.