The Charities are bleeding as a direct result of incompetent legislation. The mess needs to be cleaned up with a scalpel, not "Scorch and Burn". Government wrote the Laws and Loop Holes that You complain about so much. It would seem that corruption and incompetence go hand in hand sometimes, huh.... it should make you wonder why Government is pointing the finger here and there, and never looking in the mirror.
All the government did was change the law to prevent new funds and foundations from stacking their boards with family members. Now if you have let's say 3 family members on the board you must have at least 4 non-family members. But they grandfathered in the already established "charities" so they effectively prevented any new money from doing the same thing. 60 families, like the Rockefellers, Melons, Du Pontes, etc., were able to keep their phony charities. These 60 families are known as "The Establishment" and they control 85% of the fortune 500 companies, all media and both Parties.
The new law prevented you or me from creating our own tax dodge until Rev Pat Robertson, a tax attorney from Yale found a loophole in the new law for ministries. The government can't tell a ministry who can serve on their board. So he set up his ministry like the Establishment set up their funds and foundations. That's why when Robertson ran for president and gave up his chairmanship of his ministry he had to move out of his mansion. But don't worry, his son Tim became the head of the "ministry" and thus "inherited" the mansion tax free.
If you want to dodge your taxes legally, just start your own ministry and donate your house, stock, art, etc., to yourself through your ministry.
That's why the only way to make their protected wealth taxable is to eliminate the charity deduction with no exceptions.