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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1676 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1676

  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for taxpayers 
   making donations with their returns of income tax to the Federal 
                Government to pay down the public debt.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 6, 2011

   Mr. Thune 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 for taxpayers 
   making donations with their returns of income tax to the Federal 
                Government to pay down the public debt.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Buffett Rule Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. DONATION TO PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter A of chapter 61 of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new part:

             ``PART IX--DONATIONS TO PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT

``Sec. 6097. Donation to pay down national debt.

``SEC. 6097. DONATION TO PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT.

    ``(a) General Rule.--Every taxpayer who makes a return of the tax 
imposed by subtitle A for any taxable year may donate an amount (not 
less than $1), in addition to any payment of tax for such taxable year, 
which shall be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury.
    ``(b) Manner and Time of Designation.--Any donation under 
subsection (a) for any taxable year--
            ``(1) shall be made at the time of filing the return of the 
        tax imposed by subtitle A for such taxable year and in such 
        manner as the Secretary may by regulation prescribe, except 
        that--
                    ``(A) the designation for such donation shall be 
                either on the first page of the return or on the page 
                bearing the taxpayer's signature, and
                    ``(B) the designation shall be by a box added to 
                the return, and the text beside the box shall provide:

``By checking here, I signify that in addition to my tax liability, I would like to donate the included payment
 to be used exclusively for the purpose of paying down the national debt.'',
 

        and
            ``(2) shall be accompanied by a payment of the amount so 
        designated.
    ``(c) Treatment of Amounts Donated.--For purposes of this title, 
the amount donated by any taxpayer under subsection (a) shall be 
treated as a contribution made by such taxpayer to the United States on 
the last date prescribed for filing the return of tax imposed by 
subtitle A (determined without regard to extensions) or, if later, the 
date the return is filed.
    ``(d) Transfers to Account To Reduce Public Debt.--The Secretary 
shall, from time to time, transfer to the special account established 
by section 3113(d) of title 31, United States Code, amounts equal to 
the amounts donated under this section.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of parts for subchapter A of 
such chapter is amended by adding at the end the following new item:

           ``Part IX. Donations To Pay Down National Debt''.

    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to returns for taxable years ending after December 31, 2010.
                                 <all>
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