Press Releases

WASHINGTON ­­­­- Congress should consider proposals for fair payroll tax relief and reform to help working families and charities struggling in this economy - and lawmakers should reject President Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy, as well as the current version of the Charity Aid, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act (S. 476) scheduled for a Senate vote this week. That was the recommendation issued today by the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), a watchdog group promoting philanthropic effectiveness with an eye toward social justice for all Americans.

"Instead of more targeted special perks for the privileged few, any tax relief should be shared fairly among the vast majority of Americans who need it the most and are most likely to use it to stimulate the economy and support charity," said NCRP Executive Director Rick Cohen.  "Payroll tax reform would be a much more fair and effective stimulus than the president's tax plans, which primarily target the wealthiest few for special benefits.  We also believe enacting the right kind of payroll tax relief would be a far wiser direction for Congress to take than passing the problematic version of the CARE Act now under consideration."

NCRP believes offering payroll tax relief and reform would return more money to middle- and lower-income working families - who are more likely to spend it to stimulate the economy and are also the most generous with their charitable dollars.  Research shows that the lowest fifth of wage earners with positive net worths donate the highest percentage of their incomes to charity.  NCRP suggests that - rather than through the costly and inefficient non-itemizer deduction contained in the CARE Act - the generosity of working families could be much more effectively tapped by providing payroll tax relief.  NCRP believes one way to offset the cost of such relief would be to restructure the wage base for the Social Security payroll tax, which stands at $87,000 annually for 2003; income in excess of that amount is not subject to the tax.