The donation in Scharf was made in 1967 before Congress amended section 170 to disallow a charitable contribution deduction for the contribution of a partial interest in property, and the standard applied in Scharf was subsequently superseded by the quid pro quo standard for charitable contribution deductions established by the Supreme Court in Am.

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Moreover, the new law requires these folks to figure their tax bills another way, applying a federal partial phaseout of itemized deductions for the better off (U.S. Tax Code Section 68) that has itself been at least temporarily phased out by the George W. Bush tax cuts.

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