Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution in support of the Tax Policy Center.

2008 has been an incredible year for the Tax Policy Center. Our analysis of the presidential candidates’ tax plans was the authoritative information source for the press, the public, and even the campaigns themselves. Our multiple public forums provided unbiased analysis of proposals. We were cited or interviewed in over 1,000 print and electronic media stories. Citizens across the country used our estimates and analysis in letters to the editors and we made waves in the blogosphere. Our own TaxVox blog attracted a growing audience and became a news source itself. Visits to our website in October were up 1,400 percent over the previous year.

Now the nation is about to inaugurate a new president, and what we have to say and share is more important than ever. In this economic meltdown, the country’s mounting long-term budget problems are happening now. Tax cuts enacted since 2001 will expire in 2010. The voracious AMT threatens to swallow middle class taxpayers. And President-elect Obama proposed trillions in new tax cuts during the campaign and will likely add more as part of an economic stimulus plan. Tax decisions made over the next few years will be felt for generations to come. And TPC is poised to inform the debate in ways that no other organization could.

All of this, of course, depends on adequate funding. The stock market freefall means that our long-time funders are feeling the pinch and cut-backs in funding are inevitable. So we need your help.

Fortunately, this is a terrific time to support the Tax Policy Center. To start, as you on our listserv know, contributions to the Urban Institute or the Brookings Institution, both 501(c)(3) organizations, in support of the TPC are generally tax deductible—and that is true even if you are on the AMT. If you are in the 25-percent tax bracket, you save 25 cents in federal tax for every dollar contributed, basically a 1-for-3 match from the federal government (and more if you pay state income taxes).

Even better, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also matching gifts to the TPC Opportunity Fund one-for-three. A $100 contribution costs you $75 (if you are in the 25 percent bracket) and generates $133 for the Tax Policy Center. If you are in the 35-percent tax bracket, a $75,000 contribution would cost you less than $50,000 after taxes and yield $100,000 for the TPC. This is the good kind of leverage, not the bad kind that sank the financial sector.

If you’d like to support our efforts to inform tax policy in these tough economic times, click here to make a tax-deductible contribution to the TPC Opportunity Fund.

Finally, our deepest thanks to the foundations and individuals that have supported the TPC over the past year. Without you, none of the year’s critical accomplishments would have been possible.

We wish you and your families the best for the New Year.

Len Burman, Director

Bill Gale, Codirector