Bill encourages artists? donations (again)
Jason Edward Kaufman | 26.4.07 | Issue 179
NEW YORK. For the fifth consecutive session of the US Congress, a bill has been introduced that would allow artists to deduct the fair market value of works of their own creation from their taxes, if they donate them to museums and libraries.
Existing provisions enable collectors to deduct the value of donated art, but artists can deduct only the cost of supplies such as canvas and paint.
?This is unfair to artists, and it hurts museums and libraries,? says Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who reintroduced the Artist-Museum Partnership Act with Senator Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican.
Congress revoked artists? right to the deduction in 1969 because some had been declaring inflated values for their works.
The Internal Revenue Service subsequently curtailed such abuses by requiring qualified appraisals that can be submitted for review by an Art Advisory Panel.
The Association of Art Museum Directors is leading a coalition of arts groups in favour of the bill.
They say that unless the law is changed, American cultural heritage will continue to be sold into private collections or abroad rather than being donated to public institutions.
The Senate has approved the bill five times since it was first introduced in 1999, but the House of Representatives never sanctioned the measure.
The art museum association hopes to attach the bill to tax legislation before this session of Congress closes at the end of 2008.
Jason Edward Kaufman | 26.4.07 | Issue 179
NEW YORK. For the fifth consecutive session of the US Congress, a bill has been introduced that would allow artists to deduct the fair market value of works of their own creation from their taxes, if they donate them to museums and libraries.
Existing provisions enable collectors to deduct the value of donated art, but artists can deduct only the cost of supplies such as canvas and paint.
?This is unfair to artists, and it hurts museums and libraries,? says Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who reintroduced the Artist-Museum Partnership Act with Senator Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican.
Congress revoked artists? right to the deduction in 1969 because some had been declaring inflated values for their works.
The Internal Revenue Service subsequently curtailed such abuses by requiring qualified appraisals that can be submitted for review by an Art Advisory Panel.
The Association of Art Museum Directors is leading a coalition of arts groups in favour of the bill.
They say that unless the law is changed, American cultural heritage will continue to be sold into private collections or abroad rather than being donated to public institutions.
The Senate has approved the bill five times since it was first introduced in 1999, but the House of Representatives never sanctioned the measure.
The art museum association hopes to attach the bill to tax legislation before this session of Congress closes at the end of 2008.
posted by Phyllis | 2:27 PM
