Patrick Leahy: “I am pleased the managers' amendment includes language identical to S. 694, the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, I…”

“I am pleased the managers' amendment includes language identical to S. 694, the Artist-Museum Partnership Act, I introduced with Senator Bennett earlier this year. This bipartisan legislation will enable our country to keep cherished art works in the United States and preserve them in our public institutions, while erasing an inequity in our Tax Code that currently serves as a disincentive for artists to donate their works to museums and libraries. Our bill would allow artists, writers and composers who donate works to museums and libraries to take a tax deduction equal to the fair market value of the work. This is something that collectors who make similar donations are already able to do. There is an inequality in the current tax law where artists who donate self-created works are only able to deduct the cost of supplies such as canvas, pen, paper, ink. This is unfair to artists and it hurts museums and libraries, large and small, that are dedicated to preserving works for posterity.”