I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1598
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
APRIL 26, 2001
Mr. HOUGHTON (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. UDALL of New
Mexico, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. ENGLISH, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr.
HOEFFEL, Mr. COYNE, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. NEAL of Mas-
sachusetts, Mr. MATSUI, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WELDON of
Pennsylvania, Mr. HORN, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. JACK-
SON-LEE of Texas, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. KELLY, Ms.
DUNN, and Mr. MCHUGH) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred 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 2001’’.
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.
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