Scott Walter of the American Philanthropic has a terrific column on New York state politicians’ attempts to reduce the charitable deduction for high-income New York taxpayers. As he points out, this is a money grab—an attempt to transfer money from charitable institutions to state government with its bloated payrolls and irresponsibly high tensions. It’s pure plunder, the political equivalent of what Attila the Hun did to Rome, and brings to mind the Obama administration’s similar proposal to reduce the charitable deduction. Fortunately, that was rejected, even by the Democratic Congress, last year. But will they embrace it in a post-election lame duck session?