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From: Joanna Gorman
Sent: Tuesday, July 09, 2002
Subject: Congress must increase charitable giving tax incentives! (please forward)

For the first time since 1969, legislation which includes new incentives for charitable giving has a chance for passage if we pressure lawmakers to address this before they leave for their election campaigns in the fall.

Legislative provisions favorable to the arts include:

IRA Rollover: House and Senate bills offer slightly different versions of income-tax exclusions for donors who transfer their IRA to charity.

Non­Itemizer Deduction: House and Senate bills offer different versions for deductions for cash gifts to charity. The House version includes a maximum deduction in 2002 of $25 ($50 for joint returns) that increases incrementally to a maximum deduction of $100 ($200 for join returns) in 2010. The Senate version offers a temporary (2002 and 2003 only) maximum deduction of $250 ($500 for join returns), but only to the extent that the donors total charitable contributions exceed a floor of $250 ($500 for joint returns).

Artists' Deduction: Allows artists to deduct contributions of self­generated work to museums and libraries. On June 18, the Senate version of these provisions passed out of the Senate Finance Committee based in part on a bill introduced earlier this year by Senators Lieberman (D­CT) and Santorum (R­PA) entitled the Charity, Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment Act (CARE) Act of 2002. Last year the House passed its version in H.R. 7, but it did not include the artists' deduction provisions. The issue will soon move to the Senate floor and then there will be a conference between the House and the Senate to resolve the differences between their respective versions of this bill.

It is most important for you to contact your Senators because time is running out for bills to be heard on the Senate Floor and for time to be devoted to resolving differences between the House and Senate.

To convey this Important Message to Your U.S. Senators, find their email address at:

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Also, please bcc: gormanjoanna@hotmail.com
so SAA can measure the effectiveness of this alert.

From : Peter Heslip
To : senator@schumer.senate.gov
Subject : Please pass the 'Care Act' Tax Bill!

Honorable Senator Schumer:

I am writing to urge you to support S. 1924, the Charity Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act of 2002. The tax incentives in the bill, especially the IRA rollover, will prove enormously beneficial to non-profit arts organizations nationwide.

The 1969 Tax Reform Act changed the way Americans could make charitable contributions, creating many of the charitable gift vehicles that are used today. We believe the CARE Act has the same potential to radically change and improve American charity.

In this time of economic uncertainty, the non-profit arts sector needs help more than ever. The quality of American non-profit arts organizations is built upon a remarkable partnership of public and private support. As you consider charitable giving incentives, I urge you to act to build on that record in this new century. S. 1924 – the CARE Act.

Sincerely,

Peter Heslip
Member, Student Advocates for the Arts
106 International House
500 Riverside Dr.
New York, NY 10027

NOTE: also share your thanks with the following senators who already support the act:

Senators Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Rick Santorum (R-PA), the bill's lead sponsors. It is being cosponsored by a bipartisan group of Senators, including Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Jean Carnahan (D-MO), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Bill Nelson (D-FL).