The Senate Finance Committee released on Sept. 19th the list of amendments filed for the Tuesday mark-up of the America's Health Future Act. Over 30 amendments were filed using a 35 percent cap on itemized deductions to offset the expense of the proposed bill modification. This variation of the President's original tax deduction cap proposal will freeze the current deduction level at 35 percent after the marginal tax rate is scheduled to increase to 39.6 percent in 2011. Amendments using the 35 percent cap as a "pay-for" were filed by Sens. Rockefeller (D-WV), Kerry (D-MA), Schumer (D-NY), Carper (D-DE) and Menendez (D-NJ). View Amendments.
In response, AHP sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee on September 21, 2009 along with a coalition of other concerned organizations, including AFP and CASE. Read the Coalition Letter
Additionally, AHP encourages all AHP members to contact their respective members of Congress during the mark-up period to express their opposition to the amendments. Please feel free to incorporate AHP's revised talking points into your correspondence.
For more information, read The Chronicle of Philanthropy's article from September 23rd regarding the charitable deduction limits and our response.