I was very excited to learn today that

Senator Leahy has introduced an important amendment to the tax law and it's now sitting with the Committee on Finance. 

S. 931 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that a deduction equal to fair market value shall be allowed for charitable contributions of literary, musical, artistic, or scholarly compositions created by the donor.

Full text of the bill is below. In the meantime I've contacted my state Senator, Maria Cantwell and sent her the following letter in support of this proposed bill.

Dear Senator Cantwell,

On April 14, Senator Leahy introduced bill S 931. I am writing to express my support of this amendment to the tax law.

I see that with one proposal, this proposal solves two major (major in my professional world) problems with the existing tax code: donation value when work is donated by the maker, and separating the artwork from the copyright ownership.

Please support this legislation so that it becomes law.

There are over 2 million full-time visual artists in the USA, how many museums, art centers and arts-related charitable organizations that will also be positively impacted by this bill...I don't know the numbers on that.

About a year ago I wrote an essay "The broader economic impact of donating your art" that hit a collective nerve. Millions of readers accessed the article, it was republished in several countries and translated to French. The article went viral 5 times since I've written it and it remains the most popular web-hit on my site. I tell you this both to indicate my investment in the outcome and how broadly this issue affects the nation.

A vibrant arts community is an indicator of a strong economy. This proposed bill helps keep the arts strong. When this passes, the arts community can exhale a collective sigh of relief.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help see this legislation pass.

Respectfully yours, Kate Vrijmoet

Feel free to use some of what I've written in your own letters to your legislators sitting on the Committee on Finance

And if you can think of other ways to engage our community to support S931, please let us know in the comments below. Thank you.

And Thank you Senator Leahy!

Art_Tax_Deduction.pdf

II

114TH CONGRESS                                                                                              

1ST SESSION                                                       S. 931

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that a deduction

equal to fair market value shall be allowed for charitable contributions

of literary, musical, artistic, or scholarly compositions created by the

donor.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 14, 2015

Mr. LEAHY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide

that a deduction equal to fair market value shall be

allowed for charitable contributions of literary, musical,

artistic, or scholarly compositions created by the donor.

1              Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa

2         tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3         SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4         This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Artist-Museum Part

5         nership Act’’.

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2

•S 931 IS

1               SEC. 2. CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF CERTAIN ITEMS

2               CREATED BY THE TAXPAYER.

3               (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (e) of section 170 of

4               the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to certain

5               contributions of ordinary income and capital gain prop

6               erty) is amended by adding at the end the following new

7               paragraph:

8               ‘‘(8) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN CONTRIBU

9               TIONS OF LITERARY, MUSICAL, OR ARTISTIC COM

10             POSITIONS.—

11             ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a quali

12             fied artistic charitable contribution—

13             ‘‘(i) the amount of such contribution

14             shall be the fair market value of the prop

15             erty contributed (determined at the time of

16             such contribution), and

17             ‘‘(ii) no reduction in the amount of

18             such contribution shall be made under

19             paragraph (1).

20             ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED ARTISTIC CHARITABLE

21             CONTRIBUTION.—For purposes of this para

22             graph, the term ‘qualified artistic charitable

23             contribution’ means a charitable contribution of

24             any literary, musical, artistic, or scholarly com

25             position, or similar property, or the copyright

26             thereon (or both), but only if—

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•S 931 IS

1               ‘‘(i) such property was created by the

2               personal efforts of the taxpayer making

3               such contribution no less than 18 months

4               prior to such contribution,

5               ‘‘(ii) the taxpayer—

6               ‘‘(I) has received a qualified ap

7               praisal of the fair market value of

8               such property in accordance with the

9               regulations under this section, and

10             ‘‘(II) attaches to the taxpayer’s

11             income tax return for the taxable year

12             in which such contribution was made

13             a copy of such appraisal,

14             ‘‘(iii) the donee is an organization de

15             scribed in subsection (b)(1)(A),

16             ‘‘(iv) the use of such property by the

17             donee is related to the purpose or function

18             constituting the basis for the donee’s ex

19             emption under section 501 (or, in the case

20             of a governmental unit, to any purpose or

21             function described under subsection (c)),

22             ‘‘(v) the taxpayer receives from the

23             donee a written statement representing

24             that the donee’s use of the property will be

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•S 931 IS

1               in accordance with the provisions of clause

2               (iv), and

3               ‘‘(vi) the written appraisal referred to

4               in clause (ii) includes evidence of the ex

5               tent (if any) to which property created by

6               the personal efforts of the taxpayer and of

7               the same type as the donated property is

8               or has been—

9               ‘‘(I) owned, maintained, and dis

10             played by organizations described in

11             subsection (b)(1)(A), and

12             ‘‘(II) sold to or exchanged by

13             persons other than the taxpayer,

14             donee, or any related person (as de

15             fined in section 465(b)(3)(C)).

16             ‘‘(C) MAXIMUM DOLLAR LIMITATION; NO

17             CARRYOVER OF INCREASED DEDUCTION.—The

18             increase in the deduction under this section by

19             reason of this paragraph for any taxable year—

20             ‘‘(i) shall not exceed the artistic ad

21             justed gross income of the taxpayer for

22             such taxable year, and

23             ‘‘(ii) shall not be taken into account in

24             determining the amount which may be car-

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•S 931 IS

1               ried from such taxable year under sub

2               section (d).

3               ‘‘(D) ARTISTIC ADJUSTED GROSS IN

4               COME.—For purposes of this paragraph, the

5               term ‘artistic adjusted gross income’ means

6               that portion of the adjusted gross income of the

7               taxpayer for the taxable year attributable to—

8               ‘‘(i) income from the sale or use of

9               property created by the personal efforts of

10             the taxpayer which is of the same type as

11             the donated property, and

12             ‘‘(ii) income from teaching, lecturing,

13             performing, or similar activity with respect

14             to property described in clause (i).

15             ‘‘(E) PARAGRAPH NOT TO APPLY TO CER

16             TAIN CONTRIBUTIONS.—Subparagraph (A) shall

17             not apply to any charitable contribution of any

18             letter, memorandum, or similar property which

19             was written, prepared, or produced by or for an

20             individual while the individual is an officer or

21             employee of any person (including any govern

22             ment agency or instrumentality) unless such

23             letter, memorandum, or similar property is en

24             tirely personal.

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•S 931 IS

1               ‘‘(F) COPYRIGHT TREATED AS SEPARATE

2               PROPERTY FOR PARTIAL INTEREST RULE.—In

3               the case of a qualified artistic charitable con

4               tribution, the tangible literary, musical, artistic,

5               or scholarly composition, or similar property

6               and the copyright on such work shall be treated

7               as separate properties for purposes of this para

8               graph and subsection (f)(3).’’.

9               (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

10             this section shall apply to contributions made after the

11             date of the enactment of this Act in taxable years ending

12             after such date.

Æ

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