Wall Street Journal op-ed, Soak the Rich? No, Soak the Needy, by Fay Vincent:

I am one of those people President Obama continually tries to tax more aggressively. And I’m willing to pay more if the additional taxes are part of a sensible tax policy. But Mr. Obama wants to pay for much of his new jobs legislation by restricting the deductibility of charitable contributions (along with other items such as home mortgage interest and state taxes) by those he has defined as wealthy.

In my opinion his willingness to punish churches, synagogues, schools and other charitable organizations is badly considered. …

If tax policy influences behavior, increased taxes will reduce individual risk taking and make most of us more cautious. It is difficult to believe Mr. Obama would be willing to stand tall at the teleprompter to announce he wants fewer and lesser gifts to support minority education or medical research or any of the myriad other laudable programs and causes paid for by tax-deductible funds.

The lesson in all of this is clear. There are no easy solutions to the need for additional federal revenues. The jobs plan may be flawed. But the method the president has chosen to pay the costs of this new jobs effort unwisely conflates taxes and charitable giving.

Mr. Obama seems to believe that additional taxes will soak the rich. I believe he ought to look not at donors who will pay more, but at those who may get fewer and lesser gifts. There is no merit in a measure that would restrain individuals’ charitable donations in order to raise their taxes.