Write-Offs: A Report on Charity Tax Credits; the IRS Names Members of Advisory Committee

By GRANT WILLIAMS

• A new report, “Charity Tax Credits,” paid for by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, warns Congress to beware of a Bush administration proposal. The president wants to allow states to offer charity tax credits to individuals and companies for gifts to anti-poverty groups, and allow the states to use federal welfare money to offset the costs of the credits. The report, written by Margy Waller, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton, said the concept needs more study. “Resources that today are sent into the poorest communities,” the report said, “could be redistributed to places with more wealth and less need.”
• The I.R.S. has announced the selection of the members of the first Tax Exempt/Government Entities Advisory Committee, which is designed to give the agency “regular input on administrative policies and programs.” Among the people selected to advise on issues important to charities: Victoria B. Bjorklund, a New York lawyer; Karl E. Emerson, director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Charitable Organizations; Sara E. Meléndez, president of Independent Sector, a coalition of more than 700 charities and grant makers; and John Von Kannon, vice president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington.