2019 DC Meets Madison attendees, credit: Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce
Earlier this summer, TASC was one of the sponsors for the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce’s DC Meets Madison event on Capitol Hill. Kudos to the Chamber for record attendance and a full schedule of learning and networking opportunities. I attended the event with my wife Patti, each of us wearing hats as co-owners of TASC as well as co-founders of The Greater Give.
The Greater Give is a nonprofit organization with the simple mission to compel more giving. We are fortunate to have the Chamber on our side, incorporating in its Legislative Agenda “support [for] innovative ways to expand charitable giving that make philanthropy more accessible and inclusive.” While the Chamber advocates for policies that support economic growth and progress at all levels of government, the DC Meets Madison event provided an opportunity to get our voices heard at the federal level.
How does The Greater Give propose to “make philanthropy more accessible and inclusive?” We are championing a piece of legislation called the Everyday Philanthropist Act, which aims to democratize giving by empowering everyday, working Americans to give back to the charities of their choice. The bill proposes an innovative amendment to the Internal Revenue Code that would enable pre-tax payroll deduction for employee giving through Flexible Giving Accounts (FGAs).
On July 25, we received word that the Everyday Philanthropist Act (H.R. 4002) was reintroduced in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY). The Greater Give is grateful for their leadership in introducing this bipartisan, commonsense legislation. Both Congressmen are members of the House Ways and Means Committee, which is important for a bill that impacts tax revenue.
According to the current tax code, only those in the highest tax brackets can lower their income taxes by making charitable donations. But with an FGA established through their employer, eligible employees would be able to allocate a portion of their paycheck pre-tax to one or more charities of their choice. Because this will reduce their taxable income, it will increase their take-home pay. If this type of account sounds familiar, it’s because it’s modeled after popular tax-favored accounts for employee healthcare and retirement. So, both employees and employers will have no trouble understanding how it works.
With FGAs, employers will have a benefit offering that can help obtain, retain and engage employees. And as a further incentive, they gain businesses value in the lowering of the company’s payroll taxes.
We envision this as a shared responsibility model between employers, employees, charities, and the government. We truly believe that empowering Americans as Everyday Philanthropists will have a transformative effect on our communities.
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