AHA Urges Congress to Retain Hospital Services Tax Exemption

The American Hospital Association has urged lawmakers not to eliminate hospitals' ability to obtain tax-exempt financing and to accept tax-deductible charitable contributions.

The Senate Finance Committee is currently in the process of developing a proposal to reform the U.S. tax code. Reform ideas being considered include reforming hospital requirements for tax-exemption and disallowing tax-exempt status for certain organizations engaged in business activities, such as nonprofit hospitals.

Tax-exempt financing and the deductibility of charitable contributions support access to hospital services and should therefore stay in the tax code, Rick Pollack, AHA executive vice president, wrote in a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

"The current exemption for hospital services, governed and guided by the community benefit standard, allows the community in which the hospital operates to determine the needs of its residents, and the hospital to tailor its activities accordingly," Mr. Pollack wrote. "That approach continues to work well for communities across the nation."

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