Groups Target House Ways and Means Members on SS

Aug 5, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

The House Ways and Means Committee is planning on taking up Social Security reform legislation when Congress returns to Washington, DC in September. This legislation is likely to include aspects of President Bush's privitization plan and groups working in opposition to those plans recently released new polling information compiled from the districts of nine Republican members of the Ways and Means commmittee. The polling data was released on August 4 by USAction Education Fund, one of the leading groups in the fight against Social Security privitization. The data show nearly 70 percent of responding registered voters in those nine districts oppose the president's plans for Social Security and 68 percent of respondents would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supports the plans. Full poll results can be found on the USAction Education Fund website

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Nonprofits Benefit from Estate Tax, Seattle Op-Ed Says

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Grateful Americans don't mind giving something back As a non-millionaire who paid an estate tax, I am tired of the false claims made in Thursday's guest column by Dick Patten. For starters, a recent non-partisan study found that virtually no farm or small business would pay estate taxes with a few simple changes to current law. In our state, raising the exempt amount to $3.5 million per person means that only 80 estates would likely pay any estate tax in 2006, and just 3 percent of them are family-owned farms or businesses. Millions of average Americans have good reasons to oppose repeal.

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Nonprofits Benefit from Estate Tax, Seattle Op-Ed Says

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

Grateful Americans don't mind giving something back As a non-millionaire who paid an estate tax, I am tired of the false claims made in Thursday's guest column by Dick Patten. For starters, a recent non-partisan study found that virtually no farm or small business would pay estate taxes with a few simple changes to current law. In our state, raising the exempt amount to $3.5 million per person means that only 80 estates would likely pay any estate tax in 2006, and just 3 percent of them are family-owned farms or businesses. Millions of average Americans have good reasons to oppose repeal.

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The Coalition for America's Priorities New Website

Aug 4, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

The Coalition for America's Priorities is a new independent 501(c) 4 corporation comprised of members from the business, non-profit and educational communities, and its mission is to win a responsible reform of the estate tax. They have launched a new website which provides information on the estate tax and resources with which to take action. The site also documents latest analyses and the pro-estate tax ads which the group puts out.

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Nonprofit Groups Expanding Checks

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

How does a nonprofit group weigh the safety of its clientele against the privacy of its employees? Many nonprofits are struggling with that question now. For example, in a recent NY Times article, Stephanie Strom disscusses how several Boys & Girls Clubs have begun using a technology that provides continuing updates on criminal convictions among staff members and volunteers. The clubs say concerns about children's safety outweigh any potential invasion of privacy. Now, the Boy Scouts of America is considering whether to use a similar technology.

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CRS Report Re JCT Ideas for Charitable Donations

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

The Report summarizes major proposals by the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) for dealing with high-profile issues in the area of charitable giving. The proposals came from a January 2005 report compiled by the JCT staff (JCS-02-05) and have not been endorsed by the chairman or the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee. However, the ideas could play a role as the Finance Committee staff molds a comprehensive overhaul of tax exemptions with introduction of legislation possible in September.

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IRS TE/GE Division to Step-Up Enforcement

Aug 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger

At the National Conference of State Social Security Administrators in Denver on July 25, Internal Revenue Service Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division Commissioner Steven Miller announced that the office will be placing a greater emphasis on enforcement in upcoming years, rather than on customer outreach and education. Miller is planning to complete more than 1,400 examinations in 2006, and IRS Commissioner Mark Everson has already pledged 26 new TE/GE agents and a division budget increase of 9 percent.

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New Faith-Based STudy by Urban Institute

Aug 3, 2005 by Guest Blogger

A new study concludes that Bush administration efforts to expand faith-based contracting via targeted initiatives are changing the nature of social services supported directly with federal funds far more than has legislation passed in the mid-1990s. The study is the first in-depth look at the major block grant programs in the Department of Health and Human Services with legislated Charitable Choice provisions, as well as at discretionary programs funded under the Compassion Capital Fund (CCF).

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Preacher Praying for More S.C. Vacancies OK By IRS Rules

Aug 3, 2005 by Amanda Adams*

Today, Americans United put out a press release criticsing TV Preacher Pat Robertson's recent televised prayers to God to make more vacancies on the Supreme Court. However uncomfortable this may make proponets of church/state seperation, IRS rules allow all 501(c)(3)s, including churches, to talk about issues and policy positions, whether they be "conservative" or "liberal".

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Increased Regulation May Improve Private Pension Plans

Aug 3, 2005 by Adam Hughes*

Lately there has been increased media coverage surrounding the United Airlines' recent pension default. The New York Times, in particular, has stressed in a few articles that Congress needs to take steps to regulate the pension process in order to rid it of the greed and waste that helps drive these companies' pension plans to default. United's employees, today's editorial says, collectively lost $3.4 billion in benefits in the default, and they were not "simply victims of a bad stock market and low interest rates." Instead, the unregulated pension system allowed money managers to make a number of risky investments, which eventually led to the collapse of their private pension plan, and an added burden on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The New York Times also ran this story, "How Wall Street Wrecked United's Pension," on Sunday.

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