The Greater Give is an organization my wife, Patti, and I founded in 2017 to compel more giving by cultivating a movement of shared responsibility in the workplace. Many working Americans feel inspired to give back, and we believe employers should have the tools and resources to help them do so. One of our efforts within The Greater Give is to advocate for the enactment of the Everyday Philanthropist Act (H.R. 4002) and great headway is being made towards this goal.
The Everyday Philanthropist Act, as introduced in the House of Representatives, would allow employers to offer certain employees a tax-advantaged Flexible Giving Account (FGAs) as a fringe benefit. FGAs would permit employees to set aside up to $2,700 of their annual pre-tax earnings to make tax-deductible charitable contributions without having to itemize those tax deductions. Allowing millions of Americans, the opportunity to lower their taxes through charitable giving.
Employers would have increased options to empower their employees to give back while reducing payroll taxes. Charities would see an increase in regular donations throughout the year and would be able to have a greater impact on communities in need.
The Everyday Philanthropist Act is bipartisan legislation authored by Representatives Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY) both members of the House Ways and Means Committee. There are currently eight additional cosponsors representing both sides of the aisle. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), Bryan Steil (R-WI), Dean Phillips (D-MN), Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Jim Costa (D-CA).
We are thrilled to announce an official endorsement of The Everyday Philanthropist Act by the National Taxpayer’s Union (NTU), one of the largest tax policy think tanks. NTU is a credible thought leader in the tax legislation space and their vote of confidence means a lot for our work and this bill. NTU was founded as a nonpartisan 501(c)4 nonprofit organization in 1969 and has been passionately advocating for policies that directly benefit taxpayers for the last five decades.
Following a thorough vetting, NTU has decided that the idea of Flexible Giving Accounts[i], are a notion they can put their full support behind. This NTU partnership will allow us to promote this idea as one that creates positive and impactful change for taxpayers and charities around the country, including churches and other small charitable organizations whose donations have been negatively affected due to COVID-19.
This is an important step forward in our advocacy work for the Everyday Philanthropist Act. Here is an excerpt from the NTU letter of support for this important piece of legislation.
“Looking further ahead, it is clear the massive deficit spending employed to ameliorate the economic effects of COVID-19 will place federal finances in peril far sooner than most budget experts had predicted only six months ago. This means not only greater pressure for fiscal counter-adjustments, but also greater reliance on community-based and other private charitable entities. These organizations will be needed more than ever to deliver the types of health care, elder care, anti-poverty, education, and other social services that governments will no longer be able to afford, or at least be able to provide at current levels. Given these and other challenges, it is imperative for Congress to muster all available policy tools that can make charitable giving more economically and administratively feasible for as many Americans as possible. The Everyday Philanthropist Act is, in NTU’s opinion, one tool that can answer to this purpose. From a practical standpoint, HR 4002 has the benefit of several “knowledge bases” that can help to ameliorate unknowns often arising from proposals to revise the Tax Code. The legislation draws upon the successful infrastructure that has already been established to support Flexible Spending Accounts, which were created by law in 1978 and have subsequently been refined by IRS guidance. Furthermore, HR 4002 utilizes the existing definitions under Section 170 (c) of the Tax Code for what would qualify as a tax-advantaged charitable contribution, thereby reducing the potential for administrative confusion.”
NTU Letter of Support
The recent Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was a starting point for providing changes to charitable giving. Unfortunately, the partial Universal Charitable Deduction (UCD) is only for the 2020 tax year. The Greater Give is supportive of any proposal or legislation that will encourage and expand charitable giving. We applaud changes made to foster a culture of giving back, especially in these current chaotic and challenging times. While these temporary changes are a good first step, we recognize and NTU agrees, that short-term provisions provide a band aid, but we believe in working towards the long-term health of giving and our society.
Common-sense legislation incentivizing employers to lean in and workers to set aside up to $2700 in pretax funds would be a better, permanent solution and that is what The Everyday Philanthropist Act would be.
The concept of philanthropy is often associated with high net worthindividuals. At The Greater Give we believe that everyone can be a philanthropist. Our effort to democratize giving means that we are expanding the giving base to empower and incentivize participation from many. Contributions of all sizes can affect positive change, particularly when more donations are made more often. Regardless of circumstance, everyone who wants to give back should be able to give back to the communities they care about. These are “Everyday Philanthropists.”
Those who can give, should. Our communities depend on it. Employers should be able to empower employees to give in the most tax-advantaged ways possible. Employers, employees, and the community would greatly benefit from the FGA program outlined in The Everyday Philanthropist Act – from increased employee engagement and loyalty to savings in payroll taxes to the opportunity for charities to count on more regular donations.
We all have the chance to make a great impact by enacting this legislation and we are encouraged by this latest development. Despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 lockdowns and the stress placed upon our country in recent months, we are pleased the bill continues to gain support and momentum.
For more information on The Greater Give and The Everyday Philanthropist Act visit TheGreaterGive.org.
To view more information on the bill, including the text of the bill, visit Congress.gov.
[i]. Flexible Giving Accounts are similar to health Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), dependent care FSAs and the Transit/Parking fringe benefit, all of which TASC currently administers.
TASC Chief Executive Officer Blog 