[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3756 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3756

To encourage private insurance against earthquakes by making earthquake 
                   insurance premiums tax deductible.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 1, 1994

   Mr. Cox introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To encourage private insurance against earthquakes by making earthquake 
                   insurance premiums tax deductible.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Earthquake Insurance Incentive 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that:
            (1) The catastrophic and unpredictable nature of 
        earthquakes, coupled with the current lack of sufficient 
        private insurance, have resulted in taxpayers bearing excessive 
        and avoidable costs of disaster relief provided by the Federal 
        Government.
            (2) The existing utilization of private insurance is 
        inadequate.
            (3) A reasonable method of encouraging individuals and 
        organizations to insure against earthquake losses is to make 
        earthquake insurance premiums tax deductible. This will help 
        make private earthquake insurance more widely available and 
        affordable to the general public. It will also reduce the cost 
        to taxpayers from the present level of unlimited exposure for 
        largely uninsured losses.

SEC. 3. DEDUCTION FOR EARTHQUAKE INSURANCE.

    (a) In General.--Part VII of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to additional itemized 
deductions for individuals) is amended by redesignating section 220 as 
section 221 and by inserting after section 219 the following new 
section:

``SEC. 220. EARTHQUAKE INSURANCE.

    ``(a) Allowance of Deduction.--In the case of an individual, there 
shall be allowed as a deduction amounts paid or incurred during the 
taxable year for earthquake insurance coverage for property of the 
taxpayer which is located in the United States.
    ``(b) Earthquake Insurance.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`earthquake insurance' means insurance against losses from any 
earthquake.
    ``(c) Earthquake.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`earthquake' means any shaking or trembling of the crust of the earth 
caused by underground seismic forces or by breaking and shifting of 
rock beneath the surface.
    ``(d) Denial of Double Benefit.--No deduction shall be allowed 
under this section for any amount which is allowable as a deduction 
under any other provision of this chapter.''
    (b) Deduction Allowed Whether or Not Taxpayer Itemizes Other 
Deductions.--Subsection (a) of section 62 of such Code is amended by 
inserting after paragraph (15) the following new paragraph:
            ``(16) Earthquake insurance.--The deduction allowed by 
        section 220.''
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for part VII of 
subchapter B of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by striking the last 
item and inserting the following new items:

                              ``Sec. 220. Earthquake insurance.
                              ``Sec. 221. Cross reference.''
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.

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