July 26, 2001 | Read Time: 1 minute
By JANET L. FIX
The Council on Foundations is sticking with a policy that kept its lobbyists on the sidelines during the estate-tax debate, even though some of its members argued that charitable giving and foundations would be hurt should the tax be repealed.
The decision by the council’s board of directors to take no formal stand on the estate tax was made after President Bush signed into law a $1.35-trillion package that gradually reduces the estate tax and then repeals it in 2010.
The board voted without dissent to continue its long-standing policy of neither supporting nor opposing tax issues that have a broad effect beyond the charitable field, said Dorothy S. Ridings, the council’s president.
In May, the council asked its 2,100 members for comment on the policy. Of 100 responses, only 20 favored lobbying against repeal of the estate tax.
