Effort to Revive CARE Act Fails - April 5, 2004 Vol.5, No.7

April 5, 2004 Vol.5, No.7:

Published: 04/05/2004

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Effort to Revive CARE Act Fails

Lack of offsets to pay for the costs of new charitable tax deductions and disputes over the rules for a conference committee have appeared to doom an effort by Sens. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) to attach the CARE Act to S. 1637, the Jumpstart Our Business Strength Act (JOBS), which deals with extraterritorial income.

On March 23, Santorum sought unanimous consent to move the JOBS bill, citing the support of Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD). But Daschle withdrew his support because House Republicans have excluded Democrats from conference negotiations with the House.

The offset issue is adding to CARE’s problems. At a March 12 Non-Profit Legal & Tax Conference in Washington, a Senate staffer said, “The revenue raisers that were used for the CARE Act have already been poached and used for the JOBS bill, which puts CARE in an awkward position in that it would be an unpaid-for bill.”

It is possible that a crackdown on deduction abuses could provide some of the revenue needed to cover the cost of CARE. There is ongoing interest in tightening rules on valuation of vehicle and intellectual property donations. Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Max Baucus (D-MT) sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service on March 22 asking for a report on action they are taking to end abuses in this area. The report is due April 21.