Obama’s Tax Plan Must Be Opposed

To the Editor:

Contrary to the comments of Diana Aviv, president of Independent Sector, in your article on President Obama’s tax plan (“A Taxing Proposition,” March 12), that “this is not so simple,” there is nothing complicated about the fact that President Obama’s plan to diminish tax breaks for charitable contributions will have a detrimental effect on nonprofits.

Creating a disincentive for giving at a time when the country is sinking into a deep recession and government is struggling to meet the needs of the citizenry in no way “serves the public good.”

Now is the time that the work of charities is needed more than ever. With nonprofits struggling to serve the public in the face of declining grants and contributions, the leaders in our field should be unified in their demand that philanthropy be encouraged by our government’s policies, not hindered.

We need leadership in the nonprofit sector that unequivocally rejects a government plan that would undermine the critical work being carried out by charitable organizations.

Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
American Civil Liberties Union
New York