September 25, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Former president Bill Clinton gave cautious support for a new Senate plan that would limit charitable deductions — an idea that has been harshly criticized by nonprofit groups.
Several Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee this month proposed limiting to 35 percent the tax break that wealthy Americans can get for their itemized deductions, including gifts to charity. The revenue generated by it would pay for changes in the nation’s health-care system.
The American Association of Museums, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Council on Foundations, and other nonprofit groups are fighting the congressional effort, saying it would hurt fund raising at a time when the recession is already taking a toll on giving.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Chronicle and other newspapers during the Clinton Global Initiative, Mr. Clinton said that he disliked a plan that President Obama had floated that set the deduction limit at 28 percent, thereby affecting more people. But he is amenable to the recent one.
“The original proposal I opposed because it raised too much money and ran too much risk in this economy of cutting down charitable donations,” he said. The Senate idea “is much less onerous.”
He did say that the plan could hurt giving by Americans who live in high-cost areas.
“I don’t think that proposal would have any impact on somebody who was otherwise inclined to give if they lived in Little Rock,” the former president said. “I think if they have three kids and they’re living in Manhattan, it probably would.”
While Mr. Clinton himself would probably be required to pay more taxes if the deduction limit is altered, he said he would gladly do so. “I feel I should be asked to pay the costs of the health-care program,” he said.
Aside from the deduction debate, Mr. Clinton said he is trying to do more at the Clinton Global Initiative to coordinate donors and charities, saying they often fail to work together.
In places like Haiti, he and Paul Farmer, the founder of Partners in Health, want to “harmonize all their work so we waste as little money, as little time, and as little talent as possible and maximize impact.”
He also said he wants the annual meeting, which has a largely international bent, to focus more on domestic problems.
For example, that afternoon he invited the mayor of Greenville, Miss., Heather McTeer Hudson, on stage to talk about her rural city’s water problem. Due to the cypress trees that surround Greenville, the water supply is yellowish-brown. While safe to drink, it has hurt the town’s ability to attract tourists and businesses.
Mr. Clinton called on donors in the audience to give money and assist the Southern town, promising to treat anyone who helps to a meal at Doe’s Eat Place, Greenville’s famous steakhouse.
