Congress considers Artist-Museum Partnership Act legislation

Some interesting news for museums and artists (source: online newsletter of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies):

The Artist-Museum Partnership Act is pending consideration in the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. The legislation would amend the Internal Revenue Code to improve the ability of museums to collect works by living American artists, with the incentive of extending to artists the right to deduct the fair-market value of gifts of their own work that they donate to museums, libraries and other collecting institutions. The charitable deduction enjoyed by collectors of artwork has been denied to artists since 1969. Currently, only the costs of the materials—canvas, paint, paper and such—may be deducted by artists when donating their own works.

The two bills—introduced in the House (H.R. 1126) by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA), and in the Senate (S. 405) by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT)—are collecting cosponsors in advance of consideration by the two tax-writing committees.