I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 48
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the indexing
of certain assets.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 5, 1993
Mr. ARCHER (for himself, Mr. SHAYS, Mrs. ROUKEMA, and Mr. BEREUTER)
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
for the indexing of certain assets.
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 ‘‘Inflation Tax Relief
Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. INDEXING OF CERTAIN ASSETS FOR PURPOSES OF
DETERMINING GAIN OR LOSS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part II of subchapter O of chap-
ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to
basis rules of general application) is amended by inserting
after section 1021 the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 1022. INDEXING OF CERTAIN ASSETS FOR PURPOSES
OF DETERMINING GAIN OR LOSS.
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—
‘‘(1) INDEXED
BASIS
SUBSTITUTED
FOR
AD-
JUSTED BASIS.—Except as provided in paragraph
(2), if an indexed asset which has been held for
more than 1 year is sold or otherwise disposed of,
for purposes of this title the indexed basis of the
asset shall be substituted for its adjusted basis.
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION
FOR
DEPRECIATION, ETC.—
The deduction for depreciation, depletion, and amor-
tization shall be determined without regard to the
application of paragraph (1) to the taxpayer or any
other person.
‘‘(b) INDEXED ASSET.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-
tion, the term ‘indexed asset’ means—
‘‘(A) stock in a corporation, and
‘‘(B) tangible property (or any interest
therein), which is a capital asset or property
used in the trade or business (as defined in sec-
tion 1231(b)).
‘‘(2) CERTAIN
PROPERTY
EXCLUDED.—For
purposes of this section, the term ‘indexed asset’
does not include—
‘‘(A) CREDITOR’S INTEREST.—Any interest
in property which is in the nature of a credi-
tor’s interest.
‘‘(B) OPTIONS.—Any option or other right
to acquire an interest in property.
‘‘(C) NET LEASE PROPERTY.—In the case
of a lessor, net lease property (within the mean-
ing of subsection (h)(1)).
‘‘(D) CERTAIN PREFERRED STOCK.—Stock
which is fixed and preferred as to dividends and
does not participate in corporate growth to any
significant extent.
‘‘(E) 
STOCK
IN
FOREIGN
CORPORA-
TIONS.—Stock in a foreign corporation.
‘‘(3) EXCEPTION FOR STOCK IN FOREIGN COR-
PORATION WHICH IS REGULARLY TRADED ON NA-
TIONAL
OR
REGIONAL
EXCHANGE.—Paragraph
(2)(E) shall not apply to stock in a foreign corpora-
tion the stock of which is listed on the New York
Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, or
any domestic regional exchange for which quotations
are published on a regular basis other than—
‘‘(A) stock of a foreign investment com-
pany (within the meaning of section 1246(b)),
and
‘‘(B) stock in a foreign corporation held by
a United States person who meets the require-
ments of section 1248(a)(2).
‘‘(c) INDEXED BASIS.—For purposes of this sec-
tion—
‘‘(1) INDEXED BASIS.—The indexed basis for
any asset is—
‘‘(A) the adjusted basis of the asset, multi-
plied by
‘‘(B) the applicable inflation ratio.
‘‘(2) APPLICABLE INFLATION RATIO.—The ap-
plicable inflation ratio for any asset is the percent-
age arrived at by dividing—
‘‘(A) the gross national product deflator
the calendar quarter in which the disposition
takes place, by
‘‘(B) the gross national product deflator
for the calendar quarter in which the asset was
acquired by the taxpayer (or, if later, the cal-
endar quarter ending December 31, 1991).
The applicable inflation ratio shall not be taken into
account unless it is greater than 1. The applicable
inflation ratio for any asset shall be rounded to the
nearest one-tenth of 1 percent.
‘‘(3) GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT DEFLATOR.—
The gross national product deflator for any calendar
quarter is the implicit price deflator for the gross
national product for such quarter (as shown in the
first revision thereof).
‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of this sec-
tion—
‘‘(1) TREATMENT AS SEPARATE ASSET.—In the
case of any asset, the following shall be treated as
a separate asset:
‘‘(A) a substantial improvement to prop-
erty,
‘‘(B) in the case of stock of a corporation,
a substantial contribution to capital, and
‘‘(C) any other portion of an asset to the
extent that separate treatment of such portion
is appropriate to carry out the purposes of
this section.
‘‘(2) ASSETS WHICH ARE NOT INDEXED ASSETS
THROUGHOUT HOLDING PERIOD.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The applicable infla-
tion ratio shall be appropriately reduced for cal-
endar months at any time during which the
asset was not an indexed asset.
‘‘(B) CERTAIN
SHORT
SALES.—For pur-
poses of applying subparagraph (A), an asset
shall be treated as not an indexed asset for any
short sale period during which the taxpayer or
the taxpayer’s spouse sells short property sub-
stantially identical to the asset. For purposes of
the preceding sentence, the short sale period be-
gins on the day after the substantially identical
property is sold and ends on the closing date
for the sale.
‘‘(3) TREATMENT
OF
CERTAIN
DISTRIBU-
TIONS.—A distribution with respect to stock in a
corporation which is not a dividend shall be treated
as a disposition.
‘‘(4) SECTION
CANNOT
INCREASE
ORDINARY
LOSS.—To the extent that (but for this paragraph)
this section would create or increase a net ordinary
loss to which section 1231(a)(2) applies or an ordi-
nary loss to which any other provision of this title
applies, such provision shall not apply. The taxpayer
shall be treated as having a long-term capital loss in
an amount equal to the amount of the ordinary loss
to which the preceding sentence applies.
‘‘(5) ACQUISITION
DATE
WHERE
THERE
HAS
BEEN
PRIOR
APPLICATION
OF
SUBSECTION
(a)(1)
WITH RESPECT TO THE TAXPAYER.—If there has
been a prior application of subsection (a)(1) to an
asset while such asset was held by the taxpayer, the
date of acquisition of such asset by the taxpayer
shall be treated as not earlier than the date of the
most recent such prior application.
‘‘(6) COLLAPSIBLE CORPORATIONS.—The appli-
cation of section 341(a) (relating to collapsible cor-
porations) shall be determined without regard to this
section.
‘‘(e) CERTAIN CONDUIT ENTITIES.—
‘‘(1) REGULATED
INVESTMENT
COMPANIES;
REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS; COMMON TRUST
FUNDS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Stock in a qualified
investment entity shall be an indexed asset for
any calendar month in the same ratio as the
fair market value of the assets held by such en-
tity at the close of such month which are in-
dexed assets bears to the fair market value of
all assets of such entity at the close of such
month.
‘‘(B) RATIO OF 90 PERCENT OR MORE.—If
the ratio for any calendar month determined
under subparagraph (A) would (but for this
subparagraph) be 90 percent or more, such
ratio for such month shall be 100 percent.
‘‘(C) RATIO OF 10 PERCENT OR LESS.—If
the ratio for any calendar month determined
under subparagraph (A) would (but for this
subparagraph) be 10 percent or less, such ratio
for such month shall be zero.
‘‘(D) VALUATION OF ASSETS IN CASE OF
REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS.—Nothing
in this paragraph shall require a real estate in-
vestment trust to value its assets more fre-
quently than once each 36 months (except
where such trust ceases to exist). The ratio
under subparagraph (A) for any calendar
month for which there is no valuation shall be
the trustee’s good faith judgment as to such
valuation.
‘‘(E) QUALIFIED INVESTMENT ENTITY.—
For purposes of this paragraph, the term
‘qualified investment entity’ means—
‘‘(i) a regulated investment company
(within the meaning of section 851),