The Delaware General Assembly is currently reviewing legislation that, if passed, will have a significant impact on all Delaware nonprofits and charitable organizations. As discussed herein, House Bill 240, related to taxes on personal income ("HB 240"), contains a provision (Section 4) to eliminate itemized deductions. This provision seeks to impact only those taxpayers who itemize their state returns, or about a third of the Delaware tax filer population. While this may have some positive effect on the state treasury, Delaware nonprofits and the communities they serve will be impacted adversely by this legislation. As such, Section 4 to HB 240 should not become law in its current form.

The elimination of the state charitable deduction in Section 4 to HB 240 will negatively impact individual charitable giving in Delaware. When comparing outcomes in other states that passed similar legislation, Section 4 to HB 240 could result in Delaware charitable organizations such as nonprofits and houses of worship collectively receiving anywhere from $30 million and $60 million less from individual donors in FY18 than FY17. Consequently, these groups will likely be forced to lean more heavily on the State in the future and reduce services to the communities and constituents they serve, offsetting any potential revenue gains since local governments will be forced to pick up the slack with their own funds and resources.