By Laura Weber, Michigan Public Radio Network
ANN ARBOR, MI –
State tax credits for charitable giving expire in about a week and a half. Governor Rick Snyder and the Republican-led Legislature got rid of the credits as part of a tax overhaul during budget negotiations earlier this year. Among the groups included in the expiring tax credit are food banks.
Eileen Spring is president of Food Gatherers - a food bank in Ann Arbor. She says she hopes the expiring tax credit will draw attention to the need for charitable giving in the coming year.
"We're hoping maybe people who have never done it before will do it this year, but it's really difficult to anticipate," she says. "We're counting, certainly, in that people believe in Food Gatherers mission of fighting hunger where we live and continue to support us, but we're worried that they'll support us as a smaller amount because of the loss of the tax credit."
Spring says most of her organization's operating budget comes from individual donations of 400 dollars or less.
Along with food banks, other groups included in the expiring state tax credits are homeless shelters, community foundations, and public institutions - such as libraries, museums and public radio stations.