October 30, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
Thirty-four nonprofit groups are opposing a Senate bill on charitable giving, saying a tax break in it to promote greater use of land trusts would be too costly and would put religious groups seeking to purchase land at a disadvantage.
In a letter sent last week to chairmen of the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the legislation, the organizations’ officials said they prefer the House bill, which does not contain such a provision.
Each chamber of Congress has passed a different version of the legislation, which contains several measures intended to encourage donations to religious and secular charities, such as allowing people who don’t itemize their federal tax deductions to write off some of their gifts to charity. The Senate proposal includes a provision to reduce the capital-gains tax by 25 percent for people who sell land or water rights to a land trust or government agency.
That provision, the letter contends, would put “faith-based institutions, such as churches, orphanages and private schools, at a comparative disadvantage in property purchases compared to land trusts and government agencies.”
The legislation has become caught in a procedural logjam, and it appears increasingly unlikely Congress will pass a final bill before it recesses for the year, observers say.
Groups that signed the letter include the American Conservative Union, the American Land Rights Association, and the Association of Christian Schools International. The letter is available online at http://www.landrights.org.
