I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 164

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to reduce the limitation

amounts for contributions to candidates for Federal office and to amend

the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax credit for contributions to candidates for public office.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. DUNCAN introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on House Administration and Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to

reduce the limitation amounts for contributions to candidates for Federal office and to amend the Internal

Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a tax credit for contributions to candidates for public office.

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

3 SECTION 1. REDUCTION IN LIMITATION AMOUNTS FOR

4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES FOR FED5 ERAL OFFICE.

6 (a) LIMITATION AMOUNT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS BY

7 PERSONS OTHER THAN MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL
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1 COMMITTEES.—Section 315(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Elec2 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(1)(A)) is

3 amended by striking out ‘‘$1,000’’ and inserting in lieu

4 thereof ‘‘$500’’.

5 (b) LIMITATION AMOUNT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS BY

6 MULTICANDIDATE POLITICAL COMMITTEES.—Section

7 315(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of

8 1971 (2 U.S.C. 441a(a)(2)(A)) is amended by striking out

9 ‘‘$5,000’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘$500’’.

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

11 subsections (a) and (b) shall apply with respect to elec12 tions taking place after December 31, 1990.

13 SEC. 2. INCOME TAX CREDIT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO CAN14 DIDATES FOR PUBLIC OFFICE.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub16 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of

17 1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal credits) is

18 amended by inserting after section 23 the following new

19 section:

20 ‘‘SEC. 24. CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES FOR PUBLIC

21 OFFICE.

22 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—In the case of an individual,

23 there shall be allowed, subject to the limitations in sub24 section (b), as a credit against the tax imposed by this

25 chapter for the taxable year, an amount equal to 50 per-
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1 cent of all political contributions, payment of which is

2 made by the taxpayer within the taxable year.

3 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—

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

5 subsection (a) for a taxable year shall not exceed

6 $125 ($250 in the case of a joint return under sec7 tion 6013).

8 ‘‘(2) VERIFICATION.—A credit shall be allowed

9 by subsection (a) with respect to any political con10 tribution only if the contribution is verified in the

11 manner prescribed by the Secretary in regulations.

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

13 ‘‘(1) POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION.—The term

14 ‘political contribution’ means a contribution or gift

15 of money to—

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

17 nomination or election to any Federal, State, or

18 local elective public office in any primary, gen19 eral, or special election, for use by the individ20 ual to further the candidacy of the individual

21 for nomination or election to the office,

22 ‘‘(B) any committee, association, or organi23 zation (whether or not incorporated) organized

24 and operated exclusively for the purpose of in25 fluencing, or attempting to influence, the nomi-
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1 nation or election of 1 or more individuals who

2 are candidates for nomination or election to any

3 Federal, State, or local elective public office, for

4 use by the committee, association, or organiza5 tion to further the candidacy of the individual

6 or individuals for nomination or election to the

7 office,

8 ‘‘(C) the national committee of a national

9 political party,

10 ‘‘(D) the State committee of a national po11 litical party as designated by the national com12 mittee of the party, or

13 ‘‘(E) a local committee of a national politi14 cal party as designated by the State committee

15 of the party designated under subparagraph

16 (D).

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

18 means, with respect to any Federal, State, or local

19 elective public office, an individual who—

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

21 the calendar year following the calendar year in

22 which the contribution or gift is made that the

23 individual is a candidate for nomination or elec24 tion to the office, and
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1 ‘‘(B) meets the qualifications prescribed by

2 law to hold the office.

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

4 ‘national political party’ means—

5 ‘‘(A) in the case of contributions made

6 during a taxable year of the taxpayer in which

7 the electors of President and Vice President are

8 chosen, a political party presenting candidates

9 or electors for such offices on the official elec10 tion ballot of 10 or more States, or

11 ‘‘(B) in the case of contributions made

12 during any other taxable year of the taxpayer,

13 a political party which met the qualifications

14 described in subparagraph (A) in the last pre15 ceding election of a President and Vice Presi16 dent.

17 ‘‘(4) STATE AND LOCAL.—The term ‘State’

18 means the various States and the District of Colum19 bia. The term ‘local’ means a political subdivision or

20 part thereof, or 2 or more political subdivisions or

21 parts thereof, of a State.

22 ‘‘(d) CROSS REFERENCES.—

‘‘(1) For disallowance of credits to estates and

trusts, see section 642(j).

‘‘(2) For treatment of Indian tribal governments as

States (and the subdivisions of Indian tribal governments as political subdivisions of States), see section 7871.’’
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

2 (1) Section 642 of such Code (relating to spe3 cial rules for credits and deductions) is amended by

4 adding at the end the following new subsection:

5 ‘‘(j) POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION CREDIT.—An estate

6 or trust shall not be allowed the credit against tax for con7 tributions to candidates for public office provided by sec8 tion 24.’’

9 (2) Paragraph (6) of section 7871(a) of such

10 Code (relating to Indian tribal governments treated

11 as States for certain purposes) is amended by redes12 ignating subparagraphs (A) through (D) as subpara13 graphs (B) through (E), respectively, and by insert14 ing before such subparagraph (B) the following new

15 subparagraph:

16 ‘‘(A) section 24(c)(4) (defining State for

17 purposes of credit for contributions to can18 didates for public office),’’.

19 (3) The table of sections for subpart A of part

20 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is

21 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec22 tion 23 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 24. Contributions to candidates for public office.’’

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

24 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

25 December 31, 1992.
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