During the member-led creation of the Alliance’s 2017 Federal Public Policy Agenda, the Alliance network committed to supporting tax policies that encouraged charitable giving to community-based, nonpartisan organizations and to participating in the federal budget process to ensure that vital programs for populations served by our network are effectively funded. Our position remains unchanged.

The passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act leaves serious, unexamined consequences in its wake for many families and communities, and for the nonprofit human services sector that serves them, which will impact efforts to strengthen and grow the economy. Community-based organizations, along with their public counterparts, comprise the nation’s infrastructure to address problems like the opioid crisis and remove barriers to good health and financial well-being. As a network of community-based organizations, the Alliance knows that strong economies grow from strong human capital pipelines.

Analysts estimate the tax bill will drive up the deficit another $1.5 trillion. The passage of the bill, and ensuing budget cuts that will be required to address the nation’s deficit, require the response of the Alliance’s strategic action network to ensure everyone has uninterrupted access to key building blocks that workers and their families need to thrive. For the national economy to grow and flourish, the country must invest in our workforce, through comprehensive workforce supports, affordable health care, safe housing and neighborhoods, and access to quality education. Federal programs that help build and sustain current and future individual taxpayers should not be reduced in their reach or effectiveness in exchange for tax cuts, when history has proven that ignoring the needs of our people leaves our communities destabilized and our country weakened. 

As the tax bill heads to the president’s desk, the Alliance network remains committed to working with policy makers at all levels of government to value investing in human potential as key to the economic success we all want for hardworking people, their families, and their communities across this country. We will continue to insist that all policymakers make decisions that achieve the goals we all share—strong and happy families, safe and flourishing communities, and an economy driven by people and businesses that ensure our country is competitive worldwide.