Skip to main content
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Briefing Book
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Fiscal Facts
Twitter
Facebook
Logo Site
  • Topics
    • Individual Taxes
    • Business Taxes
    • Federal Budget and Economy
    • State and Local Issues
    • Campaigns, Proposals, and Reforms
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Features
Brief

Taxes and Foundations: A 50th Anniversary Overview

C. Eugene Steuerle, Benjamin Soskis
February 8, 2021
Download PDFPrint
Share

Primary tasks

  • Overview(active tab)
  • Full Report

Abstract

Pervading the history and tax laws applying to foundations is a persistent suspicion of the wealthy and of concentrated power, while the battles between foundations and Congress largely center on who has control over the uses of wealth. Foundation laws, and by extension, laws proposed or enacted for donor advised funds and other charities, often develop on the basis of the administrative expedience possible with regulating endowments, but not reserves, real estate, and other assets. One consequence is wide inconsistency in actual and proposed tax treatment of wealth held across the charitable sector. Legislative actions also cannot be separated from catalysts in the wider political economy. While the 1969 legislation that still drives much of the current tax treatment of foundations is widely considered to have successfully limited abuses, it is not without its warts. Continued debates over the control of the use of endowments must carefully address administrative feasibility, efficiency, equity across charitable institutions, and whether the wealthy would exert even more control over society if reforms led them to hold more wealth privately by contributing less to charity.

Research Area

Individual Taxes Federal Budget and Economy
To reuse content from the Tax Policy Center, visit copyright.com, search for the publications, choose from a list of licenses, and complete the transaction.

Meet the Experts

  • C. Eugene Steuerle
    Institute Fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair
  • Benjamin Soskis
    Research Associate I
Research report

New Evidence on The Effect of The TCJA On the Housing Market

Robert McClelland, Livia Mucciolo, Safia Sayed
March 30, 2022
  • Donate Today
  • Topics
  • TaxVox Blog
  • Research & Commentary
  • Laws & Proposals
  • Model Estimates
  • Statistics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletters
Twitter
Facebook
  • © Urban Institute, Brookings Institution, and individual authors, 2022.