Prepared as a study for the Independent Sector. On August 13, 1981 President Reagan signed into law the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, one of the central pillars of the economic program he had unveiled six months earlier. The purpose of this report is to assess the probable impact of this new tax law on individual charitable giving over the next several years. This impact is worth exploring not simply because of the magnitude of the resources involved, but even more so because of the special role that charitable giving plays in the private, nonprofit sector of American life, and because of the special implications it consequently has for the administration's overall economic strategy.

CONTENTS
Preface.
Summary of principal findings.
List of tables.

Chapter 1. Background.
                The analytical problem - The complex relationship between taxes and 
                giving. 
                The approach.

Chapter 2. Results - The 1981 Tax Act and individual charitable giving: introduction.
                Aggregate impacts.
                Variations among income classes.
                Resulting variations in impact among recipients.

Chapter 3. Nonprofit organizations and the economic recovery program - Conclusions
                and implications: 
                      Summary - The tax bill.
                      The tax bill and the budget.
                      Implications and conclusions.

Prepared as a study for the Independent Sector. On August 13, 1981 President Reagan signed into law the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, one of the central pillars of the economic program he had unveiled six months earlier. The purpose of this report is to assess the probable impact of this new tax law on individual charitable giving over the next several years.