May 20, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
Rep. John R. Kasich, an Ohio Republican, has introduced a bill that would allow states to use federal money to offset the costs that they would incur if they offered state-tax credits to people who give to antipoverty groups.
The measure would encourage states to offer tax credits of up to $250 annually per individual, or $500 per married couple, for donations to qualifying charities. States that provided such credits would be able to use money from seven federal programs to cover lost tax revenue from providing the credits.
Arizona currently offers a tax credit similar to the one described in the bill. Representative Kasich and the measure’s 10 co-sponsors hope to prompt other states to follow suit.
The bill also would make it easier for religious groups to get federal grants and contracts for their antipoverty programs. And the measure would allow donors to make charitable gifts directly from individual retirement accounts without having to pay income taxes on that money.
A copy of the legislative proposal, HR 1607, is available from the Library of Congress’s Web site at http://thomas.loc.gov.
