According to Guidestar: With Congress in recess until early next week, Senate Finance Committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Ways and Means chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) continue to discuss whether the charitable giving incentives and reforms will move as part of a forthcoming tax "extenders" package. Click hereto read the entire article.

>When Congress returns from their week-long Memorial Day recess next week, the Senate is expected to take up a vote to repeal the estate tax, perhaps as early as Wednesday, June 7. And while Republicans are unlikely to garner the 60 votes needed to pass full repeal of the tax, there is a possibility a sham "reform" plan title="http://www.cbpp.org/5-31-06tax.htm" href="http://www.cbpp.org/5-31-06tax.htm">championed by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) or an extremely costly one from title="/article/blogs/entry/1879/13" href="/article/blogs/entry/1879/13">Sen.

From the IRS Newswire: IRS Reminds Charities to Avoid Campaign Activities This Election Season IR-2006-87, June 1, 2006 WASHINGTON — This election season the Internal Revenue Service reminds charities to avoid becoming involved in political campaign activities. In the 2004 elections, the IRS noticed an upturn in politicking on the part of 501(c)(3) organizations. The agency responded by increasing its educational efforts and launching an enforcement program, the Political Activity Compliance Initiative (PACI), to investigate specific, credible allegations of wrongdoing.

Great new editorial in the New York Times: In a country that spends so much time extolling the glories of democracy, it's amazing how many elected officials go out of their way to discourage voting. States are adopting rules that make it hard, and financially perilous, for nonpartisan groups to register new voters. They have adopted new rules for maintaining voter rolls that are likely to throw off many eligible voters, and they are imposing unnecessarily tough ID requirements.