I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3908 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for 
charitable contributions by individuals and businesses, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 27, 2005 
Mr. BLUNT (for himself, Mr. AKIN, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BARTLETT of Mary-
land, Mr. BISHOP
of Georgia, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. 
CULBERSON, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. EMANUEL, Mr. FOLEY, 
Mr. FORD, Mr. FOSSELLA, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GARRETT of 
New Jersey, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Ms. 
HARRIS, Ms. HART, Mr. HASTERT, Mr. HAYES, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. 
HOSTETTLER, Mr. HULSHOF, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. KING of 
Iowa, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. 
MORAN of Kansas, Ms. NORTON, Mr. OTTER, Mr. PAUL, Mr. PENCE, Mr. 
PITTS, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. REGULA, Mr. RENZI, Mr. ROGERS of Michi-
gan, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. 
STEARNS, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. WAMP, Mr. WELDON of Florida, Mr. WILSON 
of South Carolina, Mr. REICHERT, Mr. SHAW, Mr. GORDON, Mr. 
RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. REYNOLDS, Mr. SWEENEY, Ms. GINNY BROWN- 
WAITE of Florida, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr. PICKERING, Mr. MCCAUL of 
Texas, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. 
CRENSHAW, Mr. DELAY, Mr. ISSA, Mr. HERGER, Mrs. BIGGERT, and 
Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 
incentives for charitable contributions by individuals and 
businesses, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; ETC. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Charitable Giving Act of 2005’’. 
(b) AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.—Except as other-
wise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amend-
ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment 
to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference 
shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi-
sion of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 
(c) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; etc. 
Sec. 2. Encouraging all Americans to increase their charitable giving. 
TITLE I—CHARITABLE GIVING INCENTIVES 
Sec. 101. Deduction for portion of charitable contributions to be allowed to in-
dividuals who do not itemize deductions. 
Sec. 102. Tax-free distributions from individual retirement plans for charitable 
purposes. 
Sec. 103. Increase in cap on corporate charitable contributions. 
Sec. 104. Charitable deduction for contributions of food inventory. 
Sec. 105. Reform of certain excise taxes related to private foundations. 
Sec. 106. Excise tax on unrelated business taxable income of charitable remain-
der trusts. 
Sec. 107. Expansion of charitable contribution allowed for scientific property 
used for research and for computer technology and equipment 
used for educational purposes. 
Sec. 108. Adjustment to basis of S corporation stock for certain charitable con-
tributions. 
Sec. 109. Charitable organizations permitted to make collegiate housing and in-
frastructure grants. 
Sec. 110. Conduct of certain games of chance not treated as unrelated trade 
or business. 
Sec. 111. Excise taxes exemption for blood collector organizations. 
Sec. 112. Nonrecognition of gain on the sale of property used in performance 
of an exempt function.
Sec. 113. Exemption of qualified 501(c)(3) bonds for nursing homes from Fed-
eral guarantee prohibitions. 
TITLE II—TAX REFORM AND IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO 
CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS AND PROGRAMS 
Sec. 201. Clarification of definition of church tax inquiry. 
Sec. 202. Extension of declaratory judgment remedy to tax-exempt organiza-
tions. 
Sec. 203. Landowner incentives programs. 
Sec. 204. Modifications to section 512(b)(13). 
Sec. 205. Simplification of lobbying expenditure limitation. 
Sec. 206. Pilot project for forest conservation activities. 
TITLE III—OTHER PROVISIONS 
Sec. 301. Compassion capital fund. 
Sec. 302. Reauthorization of Assets for Independence demonstration. 
Sec. 303. Sense of the Congress regarding corporate contributions to faith- 
based organizations, etc. 
Sec. 304. Maternity group homes. 
Sec. 305. Authority of States to use 10 percent of their TANF funds to carry 
out social services block grant programs. 
SEC. 2. ENCOURAGING ALL AMERICANS TO INCREASE 
THEIR CHARITABLE GIVING. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 
(1) individual charitable giving rates among 
Americans have stagnated at 1.5 to 2.2 percent of 
aggregate individual income for the past 50 years; 
(2) a one percent increase (from two to three 
percent) in charitable giving will generate over 
$90,000,000,000 to charity; 
(3) charitable giving is a significant source of 
funding for health, education, and welfare programs; 
and 
(4) a one percent increase in charitable giving 
may reduce the Federal deficit, reduce the call for
tax increases, and provide funds to benefit our na-
tional health, education, and welfare goals. 
(b) POLICY.—The Congress encourages all Ameri-
cans to increase their charitable giving, with the goal of 
increasing the annual amount of charitable giving in the 
United States by one percent. 
TITLE I—CHARITABLE GIVING 
INCENTIVES 
SEC. 101. DEDUCTION FOR PORTION OF CHARITABLE CON-
TRIBUTIONS TO BE ALLOWED TO INDIVID-
UALS WHO DO NOT ITEMIZE DEDUCTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 170 (relating to chari-
table, etc., contributions and gifts) is amended by redesig-
nating subsection (o) as subsection (p) and by inserting 
after subsection (n) the following new subsection: 
‘‘(o) DEDUCTION FOR INDIVIDUALS NOT ITEMIZING 
DEDUCTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual 
who does not itemize deductions for a taxable year, 
there shall be taken into account as a direct chari-
table deduction under section 63 an amount equal to 
the amount allowable under subsection (a) for the 
taxable year for cash contributions (determined 
without regard to any carryover), to the extent that 
such contributions exceed $250 ($500 in the case of