Douglas Alexander: “I applaud Senator Bunning for introducing the bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide capital gains…”

“I applaud Senator Bunning for introducing the bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide capital gains treatment for certain self-created musical works, and I am proud to be a co-sponsor of this bill. This bill will make songwriters eligible for the capital gains tax rate when they sell their portion of a song catalogue. It treats the taxation of songwriters fairly so that they are on equal footing with musical publishers. Many songwriters are self-employed small business owners, but they are distinguishable from other similar small business owners, such as authors, because the rate of pay for songwriters is set by the Federal Government. Historically, almost all professional songwriters assigned their copyright to a music publisher. As a result, the songwriters did not own the song or receive any royalty payments from the song. The songwriters did not own the copyright, and therefore, were not required to participate in any expenses toward exploiting it. Currently, songwriters and music publishers are equal, joint-venture business partners.”