Seattle’s Bloodworks Northwest worries about GOP tax plan

The tax reform plan that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says is “almost certain” to pass has the chief financial officer of Seattle non-profit Bloodworks Northwest concerned.

RELATED: Will the tax plan help the middle class?

The main concern, according to CFO Bob Gleason, is the increase in the standard deduction.

“Fewer people will be itemizing their deduction, such that they won’t take advantage of a deduction for charitable contributions,” he said. “It’s uncertain what this will do, but it certainly raises a level of concern that the donations that non-profit organizations and Bloodworks counts on — in our case, to fund our life-saving research operations may go down.”

Bloodworks, an independent non-profit, relies on donor gifts to provide a blood supply to more than 90 Northwest hospitals.

As The Washington Post previously reported, the House bill would eliminate many credits and deductions, replacing them with a standard deduction, as well as larger child tax credit and “Family Flexibility Credit.” A larger standard deduction would make the first $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for couples tax-free.

But, unlike other deductions, we will still be able to deduct for charitable donations. So what is the concern?

“A large group of the population will no longer meet that threshold to be able to itemize a charitable deduction. I would like to think people give to charities for the right reason, however, with the change in this standard deduction, perhaps the donation will drop a little bit …”

Listen to the entire conversation here.