[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 749 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 749

   To provide that no Federal income tax shall be imposed on amounts 
 received by victims of the Nazi regime or their heirs or estates, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 6, 2001

 Mr. Fitzgerald (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Bingaman, 
 Mr. DeWine, Mrs. Clinton, Ms. Collins, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. McCain, Mr. 
Kerry, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Snowe, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Smith of Oregon, and 
Mr. Torricelli) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide that no Federal income tax shall be imposed on amounts 
 received by victims of the Nazi regime or their heirs or estates, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``Holocaust Victims Tax Fairness Act 
of 2001''.

SEC. 2. NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX ON RESTITUTION RECEIVED BY VICTIMS OF THE 
              NAZI REGIME OR THEIR HEIRS OR ESTATES.

    (a) In General.--For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 
any excludable restitution payments received by an eligible individual 
(or the individual's heirs or estate)--
            (1) shall not be included in gross income; and
            (2) shall not be taken into account for purposes of 
        applying any provision of such Code which takes into account 
        excludable income in computing adjusted gross income, including 
        section 86 of such Code (relating to taxation of Social 
        Security benefits).
For purposes of such Code, the basis of any property received by an 
eligible individual (or the individual's heirs or estate) as part of an 
excludable restitution payment shall be the fair market value of such 
property as of the time of the receipt.
    (b) Coordination With Federal Means-Tested Programs.--
            (1) In general.--Any excludable restitution payment shall 
        be disregarded in determining eligibility for, and the amount 
        of benefits or services to be provided under, any Federal or 
        federally assisted program which provides benefits or service 
        based, in whole or in part, on need.
            (2) Prohibition against recovery of value of excessive 
        benefits or services.--No officer, agency, or instrumentality 
        of any government may attempt to recover the value of excessive 
        benefits or services provided under a program described in 
        subsection (a) before January 1, 2000, by reason of any failure 
        to take account of excludable restitution payments received 
        before such date.
            (3) Notice required.--Any agency of government that has 
        taken into account excludable restitution payments in 
        determining eligibility for a program described in subsection 
        (a) before January 1, 2000, shall make a good faith effort to 
        notify any individual who may have been denied eligibility for 
        benefits or services under the program of the potential 
        eligibility of the individual for such benefits or services.
            (4) Coordination with 1994 act.--Nothing in this Act shall 
        be construed to override any right or requirement under ``An 
        Act to require certain payments made to victims of Nazi 
        persecution to be disregarded in determining eligibility for 
        and the amount of benefits or services based on need'', 
        approved August 1, 1994 (Public Law 103-286; 42 U.S.C. 1437a 
        note), and nothing in that Act shall be construed to override 
        any right or requirement under this Act.
    (c) Eligible Individual.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``eligible individual'' means a person who was persecuted for racial or 
religious reasons by Nazi Germany, any other Axis regime, or any other 
Nazi-controlled or Nazi-allied country.
    (d) Excludable Restitution Payment.--For purposes of this section, 
the term ``excludable restitution payment'' means any payment or 
distribution to an individual (or the individual's heirs or estate) 
which--
            (1) is payable by reason of the individual's status as an 
        eligible individual, including any amount payable by any 
        foreign country, the United States of America, or any other 
        foreign or domestic entity, or a fund established by any such 
        country or entity, any amount payable as a result of a final 
        resolution of a legal action, and any amount payable under a 
        law providing for payments or restitution of property;
            (2) constitutes the direct or indirect return of, or 
        compensation or reparation for, assets stolen or hidden from, 
        or otherwise lost to, the individual before, during, or 
        immediately after World War II by reason of the individual's 
        status as an eligible individual, including any proceeds of 
        insurance under policies issued on eligible individuals by 
        European insurance companies immediately before and during 
        World War II; or
            (3) consists of interest which is payable as part of any 
        payment or distribution described in paragraph (1) or (2).
    (e) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--This section shall apply to any amount 
        received on or after January 1, 2000.
            (2) No inference.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
        to create any inference with respect to the proper tax 
        treatment of any amount received before January 1, 2000.
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