Gradual increases in the level of the federal estate-tax exemption in several recent years apparently did not cause wealthy people to change the shares of their estates that they left to charity, according to a new report from the Internal Revenue Service, reports The Chronicle’s Government and Politics Watch column.

Plus: The IRS says tax deductions claimed by Americans for charitable contributions rose to $193.6-billion in 2007, an increase of 3.7 percent from the $186.6-billion claimed in 2006.