I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 806
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 13, 2003
Mr. HOUGHTON (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, Mr. 
FILNER, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. 
WOOLSEY, 
Mrs. 
JOHNSON
of 
Connecticut, 
Mr. 
MATSUI, 
Mr. 
MCDERMOTT, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. ENGLISH, Mrs. LOWEY, 
Mr. NADLER, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. FROST, Mr. MCHUGH, 
Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. MCINTYRE, and Mr. LANTOS) 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 
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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Artists’ Contribution 
to American Heritage Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS OF CERTAIN ITEMS 
CREATED BY THE TAXPAYER. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (e) of section 170 of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to certain 
contributions of ordinary income and capital gain prop-
erty) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(7) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN CONTRIBU-
TIONS OF LITERARY, MUSICAL, OR ARTISTIC COM-
POSITIONS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a quali-
fied artistic charitable contribution—
‘‘(i) the amount of such contribution 
shall be the fair market value of the prop-
erty contributed (determined at the time of 
such contribution), and 
‘‘(ii) no reduction in the amount of 
such contribution shall be made under 
paragraph (1). 
‘‘(B) QUALIFIED
ARTISTIC
CHARITABLE 
CONTRIBUTION.—For purposes of this para-
graph, the term ‘qualified artistic charitable 
contribution’ means a charitable contribution of 
any literary, musical, artistic, or scholarly com-
position, or similar property, or the copyright 
thereon (or both), but only if—
‘‘(i) such property was created by the 
personal efforts of the taxpayer making 
such contribution no less than 18 months 
prior to such contribution, 
‘‘(ii) the taxpayer—
‘‘(I) has received a qualified ap-
praisal of the fair market value of 
such property in accordance with the 
regulations under this section, and 
‘‘(II) attaches to the taxpayer’s 
income tax return for the taxable year 
in which such contribution was made 
a copy of such appraisal, 
‘‘(iii) the donee is an organization de-
scribed in subsection (b)(1)(A), 
‘‘(iv) the use of such property by the 
donee is related to the purpose or function 
constituting the basis for the donee’s ex-
emption under section 501 (or, in the case 
of a governmental unit, to any purpose or 
function described under subsection (c)), 
‘‘(v) the taxpayer receives from the 
donee a written statement representing 
that the donee’s use of the property will be
in accordance with the provisions of clause 
(iv), and 
‘‘(vi) the written appraisal referred to 
in clause (ii) includes evidence of the ex-
tent (if any) to which property created by 
the personal efforts of the taxpayer and of 
the same type as the donated property is 
or has been—
‘‘(I) owned, maintained, and dis-
played by organizations described in 
subsection (b)(1)(A), and 
‘‘(II) sold to or exchanged by 
persons other than the taxpayer, 
donee, or any related person (as de-
fined in section 465(b)(3)(C)). 
‘‘(C) MAXIMUM DOLLAR LIMITATION; NO 
CARRYOVER OF INCREASED DEDUCTION.—The 
increase in the deduction under this section by 
reason of this paragraph for any taxable year—
‘‘(i) shall not exceed the artistic ad-
justed gross income of the taxpayer for 
such taxable year, and 
‘‘(ii) shall not be taken into account in 
determining the amount which may be car-
ried from such taxable year under sub-
section (d). 
‘‘(D) ARTISTIC
ADJUSTED
GROSS
IN-
COME.—For purposes of this paragraph, the 
term ‘artistic adjusted gross income’ means 
that portion of the adjusted gross income of the 
taxpayer for the taxable year attributable to—
‘‘(i) income from the sale or use of 
property created by the personal efforts of 
the taxpayer which is of the same type as 
the donated property, and 
‘‘(ii) income from teaching, lecturing, 
performing, or similar activity with respect 
to property described in clause (i). 
‘‘(E) PARAGRAPH NOT TO APPLY TO CER-
TAIN CONTRIBUTIONS.—Subparagraph (A) shall 
not apply to any charitable contribution of any 
letter, memorandum, or similar property which 
was written, prepared, or produced by or for an 
individual while the individual is an officer or 
employee of any person (including any govern-
ment agency or instrumentality) unless such 
letter, memorandum, or similar property is en-
tirely personal.
‘‘(F) COPYRIGHT TREATED AS SEPARATE 
PROPERTY FOR PARTIAL INTEREST RULE.—In 
the case of a qualified artistic charitable con-
tribution, the tangible literary, musical, artistic, 
or scholarly composition, or similar property 
and the copyright on such work shall be treated 
as separate properties for purposes of this para-
graph and subsection (f)(3).’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall apply to contributions made after the 
date of the enactment of this Act in taxable years ending 
after such date.
Æ