AAM President Ford W. Bell made the following statement in response to President Obama’s FY13 budget request, released on Monday, February 13:
“I am heartened to see that President Obama has recognized the value of museums by retaining current funding levels for the IMLS Office of Museum Services ($30,859,000), especially when he proposed cuts for many agencies across the government. I am also pleased to see that the president has proposed an $8 million increase each for NEA and NEH. However, I am terribly concerned that his budget once again proposes restricting the deductibility of charitable gifts, which would be an outright disaster for educational institutions like museums. Although the budget proposal declares a desire to ‘not disadvantage individuals who make large charitable contributions,’ a separate provision calls for reducing the deductibility limit from the current 35% to 28%. At a time when federal, state, and local governments are all forced to cut back, and charitable giving is already declining due to the weak economy – and the public demand for museums is rising – we should redouble our efforts to encourage charitable giving so museums of all types can continue serving as vital educational resources and community anchors.”
Learn more about President Obama’s FY13 budget proposal: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb.
Please visit www.speakupformuseums.org to learn more about AAM’s advocacy for museums.