A little political...and long

The following information is from the Americans for the Arts website:


DID YOU KNOW THAT ARTISTS CANNOT DEDUCT CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THEIR WORK?

BACKGROUND:

In 1969 when Congress repealed legislation allowing artists, writers and composers to take a fair-market value deduction for their works donated to a museum, library or archive, it essentially deprived Americans of their cultural patrimony. As a result, works donated by artists to nonprofit institutions dramatically declined. While artists can no longer donate works for a fair-market deduction, collectors who own those works can take the fair-market value deduction when they donate to a nonprofit institution.

IMPACT:

When creators of artistic works do not have the same incentive to donate that other taxpayers enjoy, our heritage is often sold abroad or goes into private collections. For example:

The Museum of Modern Art in New York received 321 gifts from artists in the three years prior to the repeal; in the three years following repeal the museum received 28 works of art from artists – a decrease of more than 90 percent.

The biggest loser was the Library of Congress, which annually received 15 to 20 large gifts of manuscripts from authors. In the four years after repeal it received one gift.

Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress, says “The restoration of this tax deduction would vastly benefit our manuscript and music holdings, and remove the single major impediment to developing the Library’s graphic art holdings. [The] bill would also benefit local public and research libraries. When this tax deduction was allowed in the past, many urban and rural libraries profited from the donation of manuscripts and other memorabilia from authors and composers who wanted their creative output to be available for research in their local communities.”

PENDING LEGISLATION:

Identical bills have been introduced in the House and Senate. Congressmen Amo Houghton (R-Corning, NY) and Ben Cardin (D-Baltimore, MD) introduced H.R. 1598 "Artists' Contribution to American Heritage Act"and Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Robert Bennett (R-UT) introduced S. 694 "Artist-Museum Partnership Act". Both bills have broad bipartisan support, with over 50 House members cosponsoring and seven senators. The Senate passed the bill last year, but the House did not accept it.

Cosponsors of S.548 (as of 2/16/07)
Senator Robert Bennett (UT)
Senator Maria Cantwell (WA)
Senator Benjamin Cardin (MD)
Senator Thad Cochran (MS)
Senator Norm Coleman (MN)
Senator Kent Conrad (ND)
Senator Christopher Dodd (CT)
Senator Pete Domenici (NM)
Senator Richard Durbin (IL)
Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Senator Edward Kennedy (MA)
Senator John Kerry (MA)
Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT)
Senator Patrick Leahy (VT)
Senator Bernie Sanders (VT)
Senator Charles Schumer (NY)Senator Ted Stevens (AK)

I wrote to my Congressman, Tom Feeney, about this, and I urge you to do the same. Click here to locate your congressperson and send him or her an electronic message.

Pass this long-overdue legislation and restore nation’s cultural heritage to the American public.

REMEMBER...

As federal support for arts and cultural institutions declines, the tax code should encourage donations from our most creative citizens for future generations to enjoy.

Most nonprofit institutions have no acquisition funds to purchase creative works and must rely on donations.

The tax code strives for "horizontal tax equity" — equal treatment to all similarly situated taxpayers. Artists should be treated as any other taxpayer donating a work of appreciated property.