As representatives of — and advocates for — arts organizations in Chicago and across Illinois, we appreciated seeing Robert Channick’s article, “Charities fear GOP tax plan could lead to loss of billions of dollars in donations,” published Nov. 13.
This proposed tax plan and its negative impact on the charitable tax deduction would hurt the entire nonprofit community. We know that taxpayers receiving the deduction give more than those who do not. Based on numbers used in the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy study, the proposed plan would result in a loss of more than $340 million in charitable giving in metro Chicago alone, an amount more than double the entire annual budget of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Because arts organizations must generate revenue from a mix of individual contributions, corporate sponsorships, government agencies, foundation grants and earned income, our cultural institutions are less vulnerable to shifting political winds than many of their counterparts overseas. But this delicate balance depends heavily upon incentives for private giving and a culture of generosity.
According to “Arts & Economic Prosperity 5,” a recent study by Arts Alliance Illinois, Chicago’s nonprofit arts sector supports more than 85,000 jobs, generates $2 billion in household income to local residents and delivers $336 million in state and local tax revenue.
It isn’t hard to imagine what an 83 percent drop in the number of taxpayers itemizing deductions would do to the organizations delivering these returns on investment.
Rather than throttle individual giving, Congress and the president should incentivize it further. We urge them to extend the charitable tax deduction to all taxpayers.
— Claire Rice, executive director, and E. Brooke Flanagan, board chair, Arts Alliance Illinois
