[DAC] important legislation

[Joyce Linehan]

Bill encourages artists' donations (again)

By Jason Edward Kaufman
<http://www.theartnewspaper.com/aabout/creditemail.asp?strCredit=Jason%20Edw
ard%20Kaufman>  | Posted 26 April 2007 

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.
 
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Joyce Linehan, Ashmont Media/Ashmont Records
10A Burt Street, Dorchester, MA 02124
617-282-2510
Public Relations, Management and Consulting
Current press releases:   <http://www.ashmontmedia.com> www.ashmontmedia.com
 
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