Mr. McLaughlin goes to Washington

The effort to simplify our nation's tax code is gaining attention in the media and favor in Washington, D.C. However, many nonprofit organizations, including educational institutions, fear the effects of the proposed elimination of the deduction for charitable contributions.

President McLaughlin was one of 11 invited speakers at a recent press conference on the tax reform issue. Held in Washington, D.C., by Senators Bill Bradley (D-N) and Bob Kasten (R-WI) and Representatives Jack Kemp (R-NY) and Dick Gephardt (D-MO), the press conference included executives from investment banking, publishing, the computer industry, and other parts of the private sector. All 11 speakers endorsed a joint statement supporting fundamental tax reform, calling it "a strong first step towards restoring the integrity of our tax system and guaranteeing a healthy economy."

In his individual statement at the press conference, President McLaughlin reiterated his support for the tax reform effort, while cautioning that the short-term consequences to the nonprofit sector not be forgotten in viewing the long-term benefits to society. He called it "not properly responsive for our not-for-profit institutions to adopt a stance of resisting or rejecting outright a current approach to tax reform, when it is so evident that the totality of our present tax code no longer properly serves the overall best interests of this nation and its citizens... If a revision in our tax laws benefits society as a whole, inevitably such action must benefit, over time, those entities that serve the interests of society."

He went on to say that it is the "time horizon of the effect of change that is critical." Calling on leaders from the nonprofit sector to "embrace the proposition that their institutions be made subject to a searching reexamination in terms of their continuing ability to qualify as providers of legitimate, vital, public services," he said that if nonprofit agencies dependent on private support are prepared to do that, "then there exists, in any redefinition of this nation's tax system, a legitimate case for protecting their interests, without in any way compromising the fundamental purposes of the new tax laws."