Thursday, April 03, 2008

House Artist Deduction Bill

Whenever I work on an art auction, I'm always amazed that artists can only deduct the cost of the materials in the artwork that they donate - not the actual fair market value of the artwork. It's a real rip off for artists, and makes it that much more difficult for arts organizations to secure quality donations for their fundraisers.

It also affects museum collections - most museums, libraries, educational institutions and archives lack funds to acquire works of art, relying instead on donations. Without incentive to give their works to nonprofit institutions, creators often keep their works or sell them to private collectors, and the public loses.

Now, in the U.S. House there is a pending bill to allow artists to deduct the full market value amount of their artwork when donating to museums and non-profits. This bipartisan legislation would simply allow artists to take a fair-market value deduction for works given to and retained by nonprofit institutions. From what I can tell it has been stuck in sub-committee for some time, so please contact your Congressman/woman and support this bill by clicking here: capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/bills/?bill=9680576

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