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Congress Failed to pass the GIVE Act of 2008

With Congress now recessed at least until the November elections, here is the good and bad news relating to the charitable volunteer mileage deduction issue.

Background
Although business and government employees can get reimbursed 58.5 cents per mile for driving their cars to do their paid work, volunteers can deduct only 14 cents per mile for driving to do their volunteer work. As gas prices have gone up, the number of volunteers has fallen down. Federal tax law treats America’s volunteers unfairly.
 
Senators Schumer (NY-D) and Ensign (NV-R) provided bipartisan leadership by introducing the GIVE Act (S.3429) to (i) increase the volunteer rate to 70% of the standard rate, (ii) remove the volunteer rate from statute so it would automatically increase whenever the standard rate increases, and (iii) stop taxing volunteers who are reimbursed up to the standard rate. The GIVE Act garnered 27 Senate sponsors, but in mid-September, with time running out to get something enacted this year, the GIVE Act was revised to meet demands of other Senators who wanted the rate set at a lower amount of 27 cents a miles (which is just 46% of what paid employees get).
 
The Bad News
Although it looked like passage of the bill would occur, the unexpected blockbuster Wall Street bailout bill of $700 billion wiped this and many other worthy issues off the table from consideration. Congress failed to vote on the GIVE Act, the revised GIVE Act, or any other form of comprehensive legislation to address the unfair treatment of America’s volunteers.
 
The Good News
Although it is tempting to look at getting legislation introduced and widely supported yet not enacted as a glass half empty, a fair assessment will also acknowledge the portion that is half-full. Highlights include:
 
  • We collectively proved that our national network of nonprofits works:
o        A state association saw this national volunteer crisis brewing and got others involved in the struggle to fix it. Initial leadership on this issue by the Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Associations (PANO) persuaded our national organization – the National Council of Nonprofit Associations – to become deeply involved, which in turn led to 40 state associations and hundreds of other nonprofits across America – from AARP and the American Red Cross to Independent Sector and United Way of America – joining forces, all in less than six weeks.
o        The state association network including the Wisconsin Nonprofits Association (WNA) rallied quickly, not only speaking out officially by signing onto a joint endorsement letter, but also getting hundreds of our members across the nation to join that endorsement letter.
  • We collectively discovered our grassroots muscles – given the timing of the issue late in the legislative session while members of Congress were returning home to their districts for the August recess, NCNA and the state association network designed and implemented an immediate grassroots effort that:
o        Activated member Action Alerts that generated thousands of email letters to members of Congress;
o        Spawned an unprecedented media campaign with op ed articles, letters to the editor, and editorials published in newspapers across the nation, from the Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune to the Montana Standard and Orlando Sentine.
  • We collectively set the stage – for future positive action. Rarely does proactive legislation get passed in the same legislative session in which it is introduced. By getting a significant numbers of Senators (27) to support the GIVE Act, and an even higher number (40) who supported the GIVE Act and/or the revised GIVE Act, we planted the seeds for future action.
Conclusion
There has been some talk of Congress returning after the elections to conduct a lame duck session, although the situation is fluid and nothing is certain. Should we hear of this idea turning to reality, we will let you know. In the meantime, thank you for your support.

 

(Real-life Benefit of GIVE Act)

Problem: Current federal tax policy discriminates against volunteers and hurts citizens. Volunteers are stuck with a tax-deductible mileage rate of only 14 cents per mile set by federal law, while the standard business mileage rate was recently increased to 58.5 cents per mile. Nonprofits from coast to coast have been losing volunteers because of high gas prices and this unfair tax statute. Citizens depend on volunteers for:

  • Delivering Meals on Wheels
  • Driving the elderly, disabled and ill to the doctor
  • Providing caregiver services like visits, shopping, or picking up medicines
  • Driving people to the grocery store or to the library
  • Tutoring adults to read
  • Transporting children to camps
  • Driving to and from volunteer work in museums
  • Driving to and from volunteer environmental projects
  • and much more.