As the July 9 eNews for Faith-Based Organizations noted, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Finance Committee–the lead congressional group considering how to structure a comprehensive reform of our tax system–committed to a strategy of starting with zero tax breaks, requiring every exemption, credit, deduction, etc., to win its way back into the tax code. This may be a good-government strategy–examine everything carefully; don’t give anything a pass just because it has been taken for granted–but it surely is also a strategy compelled by the enormous pressure on Congress to find some way, any way, to drastically cut the wide gap between federal income and federal expenditures.

Alas, being under huge pressure to increase federal income isn’t very conducive to careful consideration of those different “tax breaks,” which, in fact, are not all equivalent.

The tax deduction for charitable contributions, in particular, is distinct. Here’s how the Faith & Giving Coalition put it in a July 24th letter to the Senate Finance Committee:

“Some lawmakers see the charitable deduction as a benefit to taxpayers, and argue that donors must sacrifice along with everyone else, in the interest of tax reform. However, no taxpayer benefits financially by giving money away. Donors by definition sacrifice their money for the good of others. The charitable deduction enables donors to give more, but never leaves donors with more. No other deduction or credit shares this unique characteristic.”