March 30, 2020 | Read Time: 1 minute
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is backing a bill that would provide $60 billion in assistance to charities along with a wide variety of other benefits for nonprofits.
The legislation, led by Republican Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democrat Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, would also expand the “universal deduction” created in the stimulus bill cleared by Congress today, which will allow nonitemizers to deduct up to $300 in cash donations to charity for the 2020 tax year only.
The legislation announced today by Fitzpatrick and Moulton would “significantly” raise the cap, according to a news release from Fitzpatrick. The news release didn’t specify how much.
The bill would make the universal deduction retroactive to the 2019 tax year and extend it permanently.
The bill also would eliminate the cap on the size of nonprofits eligible for Small Business Administration loans. The stimulus bill enacted Friday restricts those loans to nonprofits with 500 or fewer employees.
