Non-Profits on Edge Over Possible Trim of Charitable Deduction

With the United States lugging around more than $14.3 trillion in debt, and interest payments on that debt already around $400 billion this year, Washington is looking for a deal to raise income or cut costs.

One plan -- to trim tax deductions for charitable donations -- is a worry for Delaware groups that depend on private money, a source that already has been hit hard by the recession.

Details are not yet clear. Among recent proposals are cutting the deduction rate for high-income taxpayers, allowing deductions only for those who give at least 2 percent of their income, tweaking the amounts and percentage of donations that can be deducted or replacing deductions with lesser tax credits.

The deductions are valuable -- worth an estimated $246 billion from 2010-14, according to recent projections by Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation.

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