it could decrease the social incentive to spend more on homes in favor of savings, education, or other investments. Charitable giving Like the home mortgage interest deduction, charitable giving receives preferential treatment under current tax law allowing individuals to deduct the donation, to certain charities, from taxable income. Someone paying a 25% income tax rate would receive $250 back from the government for a $1,000 donation. While there is no deduction for payroll taxes and most do not itemize the deduction for full benefit, this encourages households to donate more of their income to charity than would otherwise be the case. As the FairTax would only tax new retail purchases, donations to charity would be made with untaxed income (comparable to a deduction on both income and payroll taxes). The FairTax would also remove the prohibition of political speech by non-profits, therefore removing the threat to non-profit status. Taxable property and services purchased by a qualified non-profit or religious organization 'for business purposes' would not be taxable. FairTax advocates state that total philanthropy as a percentage of GDP has held steady at around 2% for at least two decades, regardless of changes in income tax deductibility. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, GDP would increase almost 10.5% in the first year after the FairTax goes into effect. FairTax advocates claim this economic boost, along with an estimated 8% real wage increase, would strengthen charitable giving. In a 2007 study, the Beacon Hill Institute concluded that total charitable giving would increase under the FairTax, although increases in giving would not be distributed proportionately amongst the various types of charitable organizations. "Due to differences in preferences for type of charitable organizations between itemizers and non-itemizers, religious charities stand to gain disproportionately under the FairTax, while education, health, and cultural charities will actually suffer a small loss." Environment Proponents believe environmental benefits would result both indirectly and directly from implementation of the FairTax. Former Senator Mike Gravel has called it a "green tax". The concepts of environmental economics come into play with some of the aspects suggested. With the FairTax being levied only on new goods and services, with no federal tax charged on used goods, supporters suggest a systemic incentive to buy used goods is introduced. Consequently, re-use and re-sale of used goods is encouraged. With the subsequent increase of the used-goods market (and with new goods being taxed) it