West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined 13 other state attorneys general in a letter Wednesday to congressional leadership in opposition to the Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act, which, despite its stated goals of supporting charitable work, is a backdoor threat to donor privacy that would chill charitable giving.
The ACE Act is S.1981 in the U.S. Senate and H.R. 6595 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The ACE Act would revise Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs), which are used by many donors to maximize their giving. Donations to DAFs are disbursed to the charities over time, offering an immediate tax deduction to the donor while allowing the funds to grow through investment.
“The Act’s disclosure requirements would cause donors who might otherwise anonymously contribute to a preferred charity through a DAF to not donate at all,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “This harms not just the donor but the charity itself.”
DAFs have also become an important vehicle for charitable giving that protects the privacy of the donor.
“While these proposed changes are likely to chill charitable giving, there is no indication that they further any public good or prevent abuse. Ostensibly, these donor reporting requirements are intended to prevent donors from using their money to influence public policy without attaching their name to it,” the attorneys general joined in writing. “But DAF gifts can only be directed to 501(c)(3) organizations, which are prohibited by law from conducting significant political activities. And DAFs make anonymous giving possible for all persons, whatever their political views or ideologies might be.”
The letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was signed by Attorney General Morrisey along with his counterparts in Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.
Read the entire letter at: bit.ly/37VWALR.
Original source can be found here.