* Would allow people who do not itemize deductions on their federal income-tax returns
to write off charitable gifts
* Would encourage states to offer charity tax credits to individuals and companies for gifts to antipoverty groups and allow the states to use federal welfare money to offset the costs of gifts
* Would allow donors over age 59 to give money to charity directly from their individual retirement accounts without incurring taxes
* Would increase the annual limit on charitable deductions taken by corporations from 10 percent to 15 percent of a company’s taxable income
| HELPING FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS: |
* Would change federal law and regulations to explicitly allow religious and other non-profit organizations to compete for government money to provide social services
* Would appoint a White House official whose sole responsibility would be to make sure faith-based groups were able to participate -- without being “secularized or slighted” -- in providing social services
* Would encourage states to establish similar offices by providing federal matching funds
* Would run a test program to determine the effectiveness of providing federal money to faith-based charities that work with prison inmates
* Would offer federal grants to faith-based and community groups that help the children of prisoners from low-income families
* Would make federal grants for drug treatment available to states with the requirement that nonmedical, faith-based providers are eligible for the money on the same basis as other groups
* Would open certain federal after-school programs to greater involvement by faith-based and community groups
* Would set up a Compassion Capital Fund that would use federal and private money to pay for research to determine the best practices among charities, support training so charities could use those practices, and provide start-up capital to qualified charities that wanted to emulate or expand model programs
* Would limit the liability of businesses that donate equipment, facilities, vehicles, or aircraft, except in cases of gross negligence
Total estimated cost of these and other charity provisions in first year: $8-billion