[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     INTRODUCTION OF CHARITY IRA'S

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                        HON. BARBARA B. KENNELLY

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 5, 1997

  Mrs. KENNELLY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, today, Mr. Crane, Ms. 
Danner, Mrs. Emerson, Mrs. Thurman, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. Lipinski, Mr. 
Ramstad, Mr. Yates, and I are introducing legislation to allow 
charitable contributions from Individual Retirement Accounts. Our 
charitable IRA rollover proposal would allow individuals who have 
reached age 59\1/2\ to donate IRA assets to a charity without incurring 
income tax.
  You may have heard from charities in your district recently that they 
are often approached by individuals who have accumulated large IRA's 
and wish to make a charitable donation but are effectively precluded 
from doing so by the unique tax laws that apply to IRA's. We want to 
change this.
  Our legislation would allow an individual to donate his/her IRA to 
charity without incurring any income tax consequences. The IRA would be 
donated to the charity without ever taking it into income and paying 
tax on it. Similarly, because current law IRA's represent previously 
untaxed income, there would be no charitable deduction. IRA rollovers 
to qualifying charitable deferred gifts would receive similar 
treatment.
  This minor change in tax law could provide a valuable new source of 
philanthropy for our Nation's charities. I would urge my colleagues to 
cosponsor.

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