May 18th, 2022 by WCBC Radio
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined 13 other state attorneys general in a letter Wednesday to congressional leadership in opposition to the Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act, which, despite its stated goals of supporting charitable work, is a backdoor threat to donor privacy that would chill charitable giving.
The ACE Act is S.1981 in the U.S. Senate and H.R. 6595 in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The ACE Act would revise Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs), which are used by many donors to maximize their giving. Donations to DAFs are disbursed to the charities over time, offering an immediate tax deduction to the donor while allowing the funds to grow through investment.
“The Act’s disclosure requirements would cause donors who might otherwise anonymously contribute to a preferred charity through a DAF to not donate at all,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “This harms not just the donor but the charity itself.”
DAFs have also become an important vehicle for charitable giving that protects the privacy of the donor.