Scott Fitzgerald: “this year we mark the 57th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. There are as many as 10,000 survivors of the…”

“this year we mark the 57th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust. There are as many as 10,000 survivors of the Holocaust in my home State of Illinois, and over 100,000 in the entire United States, with an average age of over 80. Last year, Congress passed legislation I introduced exempting restitution paid to Holocaust victims and their families from Federal income tax. Unfortunately, this had to be done as an amendment to the 2001 tax relief bill, all of the provisions of which expire at the end of the year 2010. In other words, under current law, the tax exemption afforded to Holocaust restitution payments by last year's legislation will expire on December 21, 2010. According to current estimates, there will be over 90,000 Holocaust survivors in the year 2010, and over 35,000 in 2020. Without the assurance of permanence in Federal tax policy towards Holocaust restitution payments, victims of the Holocaust and their families will suffer significant risk and uncertainty in tax planning and other important personal decisions. The Federal Government should not make one dime on Holocaust restitution, ever. The legislation we pass today--the Holocaust Restitution Tax Fairness Act of 2002--addresses this problem by ensuring that Holocaust restitution and compensation payments will never be taxed by the federal government.”