Tax Policy and Charitable Giving Results

Abstract

This study used the Philanthropy Panel Study (PPS), which is the only panel study of philanthropy in America, and data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), which is the largest and longest running panel study in the world. The PSID has a rich array of data for over 9,000 households, including, income, wealth, marital status, existence and number of children, etc. We know from prior research that these variables play an important role in explaining and predicting giving patterns, and they are not all available in other datasets used for this type of research. Using this data, Indiana University’s estimates suggest that it is important to consider where tax payers are responsive to changes in charitable giving incentives. However, because there is still significant debate with regards to the responsiveness of charitable giving to changes in tax policy (see pages 11-15 for a discussion on tax-price elasticity of charitable giving), analyses of each proposal were also conducted using the commonly used elasticities: less responsive, -0.5 & moderately responsive, -1.0.