[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 41 (Wednesday, April 9, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   ALASKA NATIVE SUBSISTENCE WHALING EXPENSE CHARITABLE TAX DEDUCTION

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                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, April 9, 1997

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska.  Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce a measure that 
would provide critically needed tax relief to a few Alaskan Native 
whaling captains who otherwise may not be able to continue their 
centuries-old tradition of subsistence whaling. In brief, this bill 
would provide a modest charitable deduction to those Native captains 
who organize and support traditional whaling hunt activities for their 
communities.
  The Inupiat and Siberian Yupik Eskimos living in the coastal villages 
of northern and western Alaska have hunting the bowhead whale for 
thousands of years. The International Whaling Commission [IWC] has 
acknowledged that ``whaling, more than any other activity, 
fundamentally underlies the total lifeway of these communities.''
  Today, under the regulatory eye of the IWC and the U.S. Department of 
Commerce, these Natives continue a sharply restricted bowhead 
subsistence hunt out of 10 coastal villages. Local regulation of the 
hunt is vested in the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission [AEWC] under a 
cooperative agreement with the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration.
  The entire Native whaling community participates in these hunting 
activities. However, Native tradition requires that the whaling 
captains are financially and otherwise responsible for the actual 
conduct of the hunt; meaning they must provide the boat, fuel, gear, 
weapons, ammunition, food, and special clothing for their crews. 
Furthermore, they must store the whale meat until it is used.
  Each of the approximately 35 bowhead whales landed each year provides 
thousands of pounds of meat and muktuk--blubber and skin--for these 
Native communities. Native culture dictates that a whaling captain 
whose crew lands a whale is responsible for feeding the community in 
which the captain lives. Customarily, the whale is divided and shared 
by all of the people in the community free of charge.
  In recent years, Native whaling captains have been treating their 
whaling expenses as a deduction against their personal Federal income 
tax, because they donate the whale meat to their community and because 
their expenses have skyrocketed due to the increased costs in complying 
with Federal requirements necessary to outfit a whaling crew. The IRS 
has refused to allow these deductions, placing an extreme financial 
burden on those who use personal funds to support their Native 
communities' traditional activities. Currently five whaling captains 
have appeals of these disallowances pending before the tax court of the 
IRS.
  The bill I am introducing today would amend section 170 of the 
Internal Revenue Code to provide that the investments made by this 
relatively small and fixed number of subsistence Native whaling 
captains are fully deductible as charitable contributions against their 
personal Federal income tax. Such an amendment should also 
retroactively resolve the disallowance and assessment cases now pending 
within the statute of limitations.
  The expenses incurred by these whaling captains are for the benefit 
of the entire Native community. These expenses are vital contributions 
whose only purposes are to provide food to the community and to 
perpetuate the aboriginal traditions of the Native substance whaling 
culture.
  Each Alaskan Native subsistence whaling captain spends an average of 
$2,500 to $5,000 in whaling equipment and expenses in a given year. A 
charitable deduction for these expenses would translate into a maximum 
revenue impact of approximately $230,000 a year.
  Such a charitable deduction is justified on a number of grounds. The 
donations of material and provisions for the purpose of carrying out 
subsistence whaling, in effect, are charitable contributions to the 
Inupiat and Siberian Yupik communities for the purpose of support an 
activity that is of considerable cultural, religious, and subsistence 
importance to those native people. In expending the amounts claimed, a 
captain is donating those amounts to the community to carry out these 
functions.
  Similarly, the expenditures can be viewed as donations to the Inupiat 
Community of the North Slope [ICAS], to the AEWC and to the 
communities' participating churches. The ICAS is a federally recognized 
Indian tribe under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 (48 Stat. 
984). Under the Indian Tax Status Act, donations to such an Indian 
Tribe are tax deductible (28 U.S.C., 7871(a)(1)(A)). The AEWC is a 
501(c)(3) organization. Both the ICAS and the AEWC are charged with the 
preservation of Native Alaskan whaling rights.
  Also, it is important to note the North Slope Borough of Alaska, on 
its own and through the AEWC, spends approximately $500,000 to $700,000 
annually on bowhead whale research and other Arctic marine research 
programs in support of the United States' efforts at the International 
Whaling Commission. This is money that otherwise would come from the 
Federal budget to support the U.S. representation at the IWC.
  Given these facts and internationally and federally protected status 
of the Native Alaskan subsistence whale hunt, I believe expenditures 
for the hunt should be treated as charitable donations under section 
170 of the Internal Revenue Code. I ask my fellow Members to join with 
me in clarifying the Federal Tax Code to make this a reality for these 
Native whaling captains.

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