US charities hit by recession’s impact on spending
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Mealtime at the Capucin Soup Kitchen in Detroit, Detroit, 9 Dec 2008/Carlos Barria
Thousands of small U.S. charities are likely to close this year as cautious donors and governments tighten spending and some states consider removing nonprofit tax breaks, experts said during a panel discussion on “The New Nonprofit Reality” on Wednesday.
“States are looking for any opportunity for tax revenue this year and nonprofits are increasingly a very big target,” said Stacy Palmer, editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Hawaii has proposed a 1 percent tax on charities, Kansas is considering making nonprofits pay sales taxes and Pennsylvania is thinking about removing a property tax break for charities, The New York Times reported.
There were 1.9 million nonprofit groups in the United States in 2006 accounting for 5 percent of gross domestic product, according to figures from Independent Sector. All are exempt from federal income tax.
The most prominent include the Red Cross and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but such organizations range from soup kitchens to religious congregations and faith-based charities.
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This is one of the worst parts of a recession
I have already read these sorry state of affairs from many Church and connected religious worship centers at a number of times.
I have read The Holy Bible by number of times, attended some Church gatherings, visited many Church Heads to my residence, bought some books,magazines and donated some humble money, with available hospitality to sisters and nuns on several occasions.
After reading, seeing some video clippings on many religious scams ,and The Holy Pope was in some sad moods, statements,counter statements, youth and adults are in Church beliefs only on paper and not in holy heart ways.
Due to economic slow down, now the charitable contributions are in shrinking day by day.
First, i have to fill up my stomach,to my family,to my close deserving relatives, then, only, if i have spare money, i will give to charitable organizations.
These are real happenings in many parts of the world.
Many Churches became tourist resorts ,some mismanagements and no proper accounting have come across by many media networks, auditing authorities and day today observations.
what happened to my just finished writings on the above subject.
I took more interests with time consuming to type a very lengthy actual happenings.
Whether it is on publication or in cold storage.
Charity begins at home, taxes are far greater than the 1/10th the church expects.