I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 726 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit and 

a deduction for small political contributions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 27, 2009 

Mr. PETRI (for himself and Mr. KANJORSKI) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a credit and a deduction for small political contributions. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Citizen Involvement 

5 in Campaigns Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TAX CREDIT FOR CERTAIN POLITICAL CONTRIBU7 TIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub9 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

10 1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is 


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1 amended by inserting after section 25D the following new 

2 section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 25E. CREDIT FOR CERTAIN POLITICAL CONTRIBU4 TIONS. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual, 

6 there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed 

7 by this chapter for the taxable year an amount equal to 

8 all qualified political contributions paid by the taxpayer 

9 during the taxable year. 

10 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) MAXIMUM CREDIT.—The credit allowed by 

12 subsection (a) shall not exceed $200 ($400 in the 

13 case of a joint return). 

14 ‘‘(2) VERIFICATION.—The credit allowed by 

15 subsection (a) shall be allowed with respect to any 

16 qualified political contribution only if such contribu17 tion is verified in such manner as the Secretary shall 

18 prescribe by regulation. 

19 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

20 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION.— 

21 The term ‘qualified political contribution’ means a 

22 contribution or gift of money, or the fair market 

23 value of a contribution or gift of property, to— 

24 ‘‘(A) an individual who is a candidate for 

25 nomination or election to any Federal elective 


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1 public office in any primary, general, or special 

2 election, for use by such individual to further 

3 the candidacy of the individual for nomination 

4 or election to such office, or 

5 ‘‘(B) the national committee of a national 

6 political party. 

7 ‘‘(2) CANDIDATE.—The term ‘candidate’ 

8 means, with respect to any Federal elective public 

9 office, an individual who— 

10 ‘‘(A) publicly announces before the close of 

11 the calendar year following the calendar year in 

12 which the political contribution is made that the 

13 individual is a candidate for nomination or elec14 tion to such office; and 

15 ‘‘(B) meets the qualifications prescribed by 

16 law to hold such office. 

17 ‘‘(3) NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTY.—The term 

18 ‘national political party’ means— 

19 ‘‘(A) in the case of qualified political con20 tributions made during a taxable year of the 

21 taxpayer in which the electors of President and 

22 Vice President are chosen, a political party pre23 senting candidates or electors for such offices 

24 on the official election ballot of ten or more 

25 States; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) in the case of qualified political con2 tributions made during any other taxable year 

3 of the taxpayer, a political party which met the 

4 qualifications described in subparagraph (A) in 

5 the last preceding election of a President and 

6 Vice President. 

7 ‘‘(d) ELECTION NOT TO HAVE SECTION APPLY.— 

8 A taxpayer may elect not to have this section apply with 

9 respect to qualified political contributions made during the 

10 taxable year. 

11 ‘‘(e) CROSS REFERENCES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) For transfer of appreciated property to a 

13 political organization, see section 84. 

14 ‘‘(2) For certain indirect contributions to polit15 ical parties, see section 276.’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec17 tions for subpart A of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 

18 1 of such Code (relating to nonrefundable personal cred19 its) is amended by inserting after the item relating to sec20 tion 25D the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 25E. Credit for certain political contributions.’’. 

21 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

23 December 31 of the calendar year in which this Act is 

24 enacted. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEDUCTION FOR CERTAIN POLITICAL CONTRIBU2 TIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part VII of subchapter B of chap4 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

5 by redesignating section 224 as section 225 and by insert6 ing after section 223 the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 224. POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual, 

9 there shall be allowed as a deduction for the taxable year 

10 an amount equal to the qualified political contributions 

11 made by the taxpayer during the taxable year. 

12 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The amount allowed as a deduc13 tion under subsection (a) for the taxable year shall not 

14 exceed $600 ($1200 in the case of a joint return). 

15 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION.—For 

16 purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified political con17 tribution’ shall have the meaning given such term by sec18 tion 25E(c)(1). 

19 ‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction 

20 shall be allowed under subsection (a) to a taxpayer for 

21 any qualified political contribution made during the tax22 able year if a credit is allowed to such taxpayer under sec23 tion 25E for such year.’’. 

24 (b) DEDUCTION ALLOWED WHETHER OR NOT TAX25 PAYER ITEMIZES OTHER DEDUCTIONS.—Subsection (a) 


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1 of section 62 of such Code is amended by inserting before 

2 the last sentence at the end the following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(22) QUALIFIED POLITICAL CONTRIBU4 TIONS.—The deduction allowed by section 224.’’. 

5 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

6 for part VII of subchapter B of chapter 1 of such Code 

7 is amended by redesignating the item relating to section 

8 224 as an item relating to section 225 and by inserting 

9 before such item the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 224. Political contributions.’’. 

10 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

11 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

12 December 31 of the calendar year in which this Act is 

13 enacted. 

Æ 


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