Ron 'The charitable deduction is a lifeline, not a loophole'

by Communications Office

As the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Ron thanked volunteers in Oregon heading into the April 18 filing deadline for helping seniors prepare their income tax returns and spotlighted two of his key priorities to make the tax system safer and fairer.

In visits Friday at Meals on Wheels in Portland and with AARP volunteers assisting older taxpayers Saturday at the Campbell Senior Center in Eugene, Ron stressed the need to protect the charitable deduction and to ensure the security of  taxpayer information.

“The charitable deduction is a lifeline, not a loophole,” Ron said, citing his bipartisan bill to encourage year-round charitable giving.

“I don’t want even to contemplate what this could mean for our state if the charitable deduction were rolled back,” he said at the Portland roundtable with nonprofits and foundations hosted by Meals on Wheels. “And on my watch on the Finance Committee, I’m not going to let that happen.”

In talking about how protecting taxpayer identification is also a top priority, Ron emphasized the importance of ensuring the IRS can build a strong cybersecurity team.

“Crooks and thieves have really targeted this treasure trove of information that’s collected when people pay their taxes,” he said in Eugene. “I have proposed coming down hard on these thieves and taking the IRS to task when they fail to protect taxpayers.”

To read more about Ron’s work on taxes in the Senate Finance Committee, please click here.