Vice Presidential Contender Kaine Pushed for Cap on Tax Deductions

Sen. Tim Kaine, Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton’s choice to run with her as vice president, has a long history of involvement with nonprofits. He has not been an outspoken leader on issues that affect the nonprofit world as a whole, but he has backed limits on charitable donations that have raised the hackles of some charity and foundation executives.

Mr. Kaine’s serious exposure to nonprofits began when he took time off from law school to work as a volunteer at a Jesuit academy in Honduras. Later, he received a fellowship from the Coro Center for Civic Leadership. Today he serves on the board of directors of the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation, a group that works to support patients with the genetic disorder, which is a form of muscular dystrophy.

However, perhaps the biggest indicator of his view on nonprofit issues is his work in the Senate to push for limits on the amount taxpayers could deduct from their income when making charitable deductions.

In a 2013 letter to Senate Finance Committee leaders, Mr. Kaine warned that a fight among supporters of various tax deductions, such as the charitable and mortgage-interest deductions, would result if Congress didn’t treat all of the tax breaks the same. He suggested a cap on the aggregate amount of deductions taxpayers can claim.

Even so, he didn’t take a hard-line stance on the charitable deduction.

“Some expenditures could be exempted from the aggregate cap if they were to meet criteria put forth by the committee,” he wrote.

Throughout his two terms, President Obama proposed limiting the value of all deductions at 28 percent for people whose incomes were in the top 3 percent.

Ms. Clinton has also called for a 28-percent ceiling but would exempt gifts to charity from the cap.

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has said that he would keep the deduction intact. However, a tax plan he introduced would place some limits on deductions for the wealthy.

Work on Conservation

As governor of Virginia, Mr. Kaine organized the first climate-change commission in the state and successfully pushed Virginia to conserve 400,000 additional acres of land. To achieve that goal, he made conservation tax credits more lucrative but tightened regulatory scrutiny and reporting requirements for large donors.

Joseph Maroon, executive director of the Virginia Environmental Endowment, credits Mr. Kaine with bringing environmental issues to the forefront in the state. “Governor Kaine came in with a conservation ethic, and he helped keep a hand on the plow,” said Mr. Maroon, who served in Mr. Kaine’s administration.

Mr. Kaine’s involvement with the myotonic dystrophy group is far more personal. He got involved several years after running into a law-school student of his, Todd Stone, at a school play that featured their children as actors. They kept in touch, and after Mr. Kaine was elected governor, Mr. Stone’s sons were diagnosed with myotonic dystrophy. Mr. Stone says Mr. Kaine helped raise funds and was instrumental at getting a research laboratory set up at the University of Virginia.

After leaving the governor’s mansion, Mr. Kaine joined Mr. Stone on the board and regularly donates — Mr. Stone declined to say how much.

“It’s always unsolicited,” he said.

Mr. Stone said Mr. Kaine provided lessons his law-school students “took with them for the rest of their lives.”

Perhaps most important, Mr. Stone said, was Mr. Kaine’s admonition to have faith in legal and governmental institutions: “It’s up to the system to decide if someone is guilty, and a lawyer is just one part of it,” he said.