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November 9, 2009, 04:15 PM ET
Senate Republicans Worry Charitable-Deduction Limits Could Be Revived
President Obama’s proposal to limit tax breaks for charitable gifts and other itemized deductions to help pay for a health-care overhaul has so far gone nowhere in Congress.
But Senate Republicans fear the stake has not been driven completely through the proposal’s heart. “Please join us in protecting the full value of the charitable deduction by opposing any amendments to the health-care reform bill that impose a cap on itemized deductions,” 30 senators wrote in a letter last week to their Senate colleagues.
Sen. John Thune, of South Dakota, led the effort, saying in a statement that “the American tradition of charitable giving is particularly important in difficult economic times.”
Several Senate Finance Committee members in September proposed adding caps on the value of itemized deductions to their committee’s health-care bill. But that idea did not make it into the committee’s final text. The bill would raise money in other ways, including an excise tax on insurers offering high-cost, or “Cadillac,” health plans.
The House version of the health-care bill, adopted on Saturday, would impose a surtax on the wealthiest Americans.
Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, is now crafting a bill to bring to the Senate floor, merging the finance committee’s text with one adopted by the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.
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