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The Estate Tax and Charitable Giving: State-by-State Analysis 10/14/2003
Research has shown that eliminating the estate tax would have a significant negative impact on giving to charitable organizations. Using state-level data on charitable revenue, this report estimates the state-by-state loss in charitable giving that would result from a full elimination of the estate tax. For the nation as a whole, estate tax elimination would have reduced charitable giving in 2001 by an estimated $10 billion. On average, states would have lost $187 million in annual charitable giving, with larger states losing considerable more.

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2001 Recession In Perspective: Economic and Budget Situation 08/22/2003

A comparison of the last three recessions shows that even while declines in total output in the 2001 recession were smaller than average, the recovery has been weaker than average. In particular, the employment situation has seen substantial deterioration relative to the start of the recession as well as compared to past recessions.

The budget outlook is particularly troubling. Despite the relatively small drop in total output, federal government revenue has dropped to record levels, and record surpluses have turned into record deficits in a few short years. Comparisons with past recessions show that the deterioration in the budget situation is unlikely to be due to the economic situation, and that current tax and budget policy are likely to blame.

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