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He is heading an effort to pass H.R.1524, the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, a bill that will allow artists to take a fair-market value deduction for works given to and retained by nonprofit institutions. At present, the U.S. tax system gives unequal treatment to creators and collectors who donate tangible works (e.g., paintings or manuscripts) to museums, libraries, educational or other collecting institutions. A collector may take a tax deduction for the fair-market value of the work, but creators may deduct only their "basis" value — essentially the cost of materials such as paint and canvas. This is an unfair tax policy that must be corrected, both for artists and the institutions they choose to support. In past years, this bill has succeeded in the Senate, but has been held up in the House, given some representatives’ feelings that any tax issue having to do with the arts is “elitist.” We, of course, know this to be untrue, and believe that when artists/authors/creators have the ability to support the collections in their own communities, those collections remain strong and relevant both to the community and to those who visit it. The bill addresses gifts of literary, artistic, musical and scholarly content, and so will benefit schools, libraries and museums. While Congressman Lewis has received strong shows of support from art museum directors from across the country, he needs to receive letters and calls from constituents in Georgia, demonstrating the breadth of support for H.R. 1524, from museums of all kinds, as well as libraries and archives. In addition, we need to urge all Georgia Members of the House of Representatives to co-sponsor H.R.1524. (Several have signed on already – Jack Kingston, Hank Johnson and Tom Price.) Here's what you can do: 1) Please send a letter via email or fax to Congressman Lewis, indicating your strong support for the bill and thanking him for his work. Share with him your perspective on the value of gifts to our community collections from artists and other authors and scholars. We want to help him fill a basket with letters from Georgia. You may e-mail him through his Web site or fax your letter to 202-225-0351. 2) Pass this message on to others in your community who will take action, including neighbors, artists, teachers, local librarians, etc. Art museums are only one of the potential beneficiaries of H.B. 1524. 3) Share a copy of your correspondence with ALL-GA, since we are working closely with Congressman Lewis’ office to gather diverse support for the bill. You can do this simply by e-mailing ALL-GA. As always, you can contact Rep. Lewis or any other member of Congress through ALL-GA's Action and Advocacy Center. You can even compose your letter online. Only a handful of U.S. Congressman and Senators at any time take on the challenges of passing arts-friendly legislation. Congressman Lewis stands out as one of the great champions of the arts and should receive our full support. Many thanks in advance for your support and advocacy |
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