[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 98 (Monday, July 25, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   THE CIVIL WAR BATTLEFIELDS PRESERVATION TAX INCENTIVES ACT OF 1994

                                 ______


                        HON. MICHAEL A. ANDREWS

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 25, 1994

  Mr. ANDREWS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the 
Civil War Battlefields Preservation Tax Incentives Act of 1994. This 
legislation amends the Tax Code to provide incentives to private 
landholders to preserve significant battlefields. The bill would codify 
the recommendations of the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, which 
was established in 1991 to assess the state of our Nation's Civil War 
battlefields, and it is the first step in what I believe should be a 
comprehensive effort to preserve this part of our Nation's rich 
history.
  The Civil War is the single most important event in our Nation's 
history. America's social and economic foundations before the war were 
forever changed by the war, and its impact continues to affect our 
national debate. The Nation was infused, in President Abraham Lincoln's 
words, with a ``new birth of freedom.'' It is not by coincidence that 
students in this country divide their study of American history by the 
Civil War. Civil rights, women's rights, economic and trade policy were 
issues driven into the 20th century by the Civil War. America was a 
different country before the war, and it was a different nation after 
the war.
  And so, understanding the Civil War--its reasons, its battles, its 
politics, its costs, its significance--is important in understanding 
who we are as a nation and where we are going.
  Often, however, grasping the significance of events more than 125 
years ago is difficult, especially when they are explained in the 
context of abstract political theories. There is, however, one tangible 
legacy of the war--its battlefields. With names like Antietam, 
Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Glorietta Pass, many remain 
today, undisturbed as reminders and lessons, to see an to feel. Our 
generation's obligation to our history is to protect these important 
sites from destruction or permanent change.
  The Civil War Battlefields Preservation Tax Incentives Act of 1994 is 
a first step in this effort. This legislation would allow a deduction 
from gross estate for tax purposes for heirs to make a post mortem 
easement donation of land within a Civil War Battlefield Site as 
designated by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission; eliminate the 
$750,000 limitation under section 2032(a) for property which is within 
a Civil War Battlefield, allowing for a devaluation of estate land for 
tax purposes above and beyond the $750,000 limit for devaluation 
allowed under section 2032(a); and convert the current federal income 
tax deduction for charitable donation of historic land to a 50 percent 
tax credit for contribution of land within a Civil War battlefield. By 
providing such tax incentives for preservation purposes, we would 
promote voluntary, private preservation effort that might otherwise not 
occur.

  Mr. Speaker, I believe that this issue is very important. If we are 
to the pass down our Nation's rich heritage to our children and their 
children after them, we must strive to improve our preservation efforts 
and evaluate the many alternatives before us that will aid us in this 
task. We must look forward and anticipate potential problems and 
conflicts and work to resolve them early on, not waiting until it is 
almost too late, much like what happened just a few years ago with the 
battlefield of Second Manassas. Certainly, appropriate economic 
development is meritorious, and I support it. But, we can always build 
shopping malls--we can never rebuild battlefields.
  I hope that through legislative efforts like the Civil War 
Battlefields Preservation Tax Incentives Act we can ensure that we 
never face the possibility of rebuilding battlefields. I believe this 
can happen. Today marks a positive step in our efforts to preserve the 
history which the Civil War left us. I hope that it will spark a 
renewed interest in this cause in Congress, in the historic areas 
themselves, and among the American people as a whole.

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