The Tax Law of Charitable Giving. Bruce R. Hopkins

at 1.

      104 104 That is, organizations that are tax-exempt pursuant to IRC § 501(c).

      105 105 Tax-Exempt Organizations ch. 13.

      106 106 Id. ch. 14.

      107 107 Id. ch. 15.

      108 108 Id. ch. 16.

      109 109 Id. § 19.4(a).

      110 110 Id. § 19.11(a).

      111 111 Id. § 19.6.

      112 112 IRS 2019 Data Book (issued on June 29, 2020).

      113 113 Nonprofit Nation at 8. The point was articulated more forcefully in the fifth edition (1996) of the Nonprofit Almanac, where it was stated that “[c]ounting the number of institutions in the independent sector is a challenge” (Nonprofit Almanac at 25). Even with a complete and accurate tally, difficulties continue: “Trying to understand the various exempt organizations provisions of the Internal Revenue Code is as difficult as capturing a drop of mercury under your thumb” (Weingarten v. Commissioner, 86 T.C. 669, 675 (1986), rev'd (on other grounds), 825 F.2d 1027 (6th Cir. 1987).

      114 114 Nonprofit Almanac at 139. The term church includes analogous religious congregations, such as temples and mosques. See Tax-Exempt Organizations § 10.3.

      115 115 See Tax-Exempt Organizations § 28.2(b)(i).

      116 116 See Tax-Exempt Organizations § 26.11.

      117 117 These are organizations that normally do not generate more than $5,000 in revenue. See Tax-Exempt Organizations § 28.2(b)(ii).

      118 118 See Tax-Exempt Organizations § 28.3.

      119 119 Nonprofit Nation at 9.

      120 120 Id. at 10.

      121 121 Id. at 115.

      122 122 Id.

      123 123 Id. at 18, 27.

      124 124 Id. at 115. Fees for services and goods were estimated to be 70.3 percent of the total; contributions and nongovernment grants were said to be 12.3 percent of the total (id. at 143–144).

      125 125 Id. at 121.

      126 126 These data are from Giving USA 2020, published by the Giving USA Foundation, and researched and written by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

      127 127 IRS, “Individual Noncash Charitable Contributions, Tax Year 2016,” Statistics of Income Bulletin (Pub. 5337 (rev. May, 2019).

      128 128 See § 22.7(a).

      129 129 Nonprofit Nation at 12.

      130 130 Report of the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs: Giving in America—Toward a Stronger Voluntary Sector at 34–48 (1975).

      131 131 Lindsey, “The Charitable Contribution Deduction: A Historical Review and a Look to the Future,” 81 Neb. L. Rev. (no. 3) 1056, 1057 (2002). This point is substantially overstated in Duquette, “Founders' Fortunes and Philanthropy: A History of the U.S. Charitable-Contribution Deduction,” 93 Business History Rev. 553 (Autumn 2019), where it is written that the “workings of the [charitable] deduction have changed little since its creation in 1917” (id.). Also Taggart, “The Charitable Deduction,” 26 Tax L. Rev. 63 (1970).

      132 132 Cf.: “Direct changes to the contribution deduction since its enactment have been few and relatively modest” (Duquette, supra note 131, at 559).

      133 133 “There are a wide variety of organizations to which a taxpayer can donate money or property and receive a charitable contribution deduction” (Lindsey, supra note 131, at 1057).

      134 134 Pub. L. No. 65-50.

      135 135 Congressional Research Service, “The Charitable Deduction for Individuals: A Brief Legislative History (R46178) 4 (Jan. 14, 2020). “The Congress added a deduction for gifts to charitable organizations to the bill implementing these high rates, not to encourage the wealthy to give their fortune away (which the most influential and richest men were already doing) but to not discourage their continued giving in light of a larger tax bill” (Duquette, supra note 131, at 558).

      136 136 Joint Committee on Taxation, Present Law and Background Relating to the Federal Tax Treatment of Charitable Contributions (JCX-55-11) 4 (Oct. 14, 2011).

      137 137 Congressional Research Service, supra note 135, at 5.

      138 138 Pub. L. No. 78-315.

      139 139 Pub. L. No. 82-465.

      140 140 Pub. L. No. 83-591.

      141 141 This was the “first time that Congress encouraged certain charitable giving by granting more generous deductions for donations given to certain charitable organizations than to others” (Lindsey, supra note 131, at 1063).

      142 142 Pub. L. No. 88-272.

      143 143 Pub. L. No. 91-172.

      144 144