[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 50 (Tuesday, April 13, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3641-S3642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ABRAHAM (for himself, Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Moynihan, and 
        Mr. Schumer):
  S. 779. A bill to provide that no Federal income tax shall be imposed 
on amounts received by Holocaust victims or their heirs; to the 
Committee on Finance.


             holocaust era assets tax exclusion act of 1999

  Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the 
Holocaust Era Assets Tax Exclusion Act of 1999, along with my 
colleagues Senators Moynihan and Schumer. Mr. President, survivors of 
the Holocaust who had assets withheld from them by Swiss banks or 
others have finally received justice in the form of a settlement 
between the banks and the survivor's attorneys in August 1998. The 
settlement was for $1.25 billion for survivors worldwide. This 
settlement will finally return the assets to survivors more than fifty 
years after they first entrusted them to the banks.
  In addition to these recipients, there are survivors who are needy 
and have received one-time payments from the Swiss Humanitarian Fund 
established by the Swiss government. In both cases, any payment from 
the Swiss banks or other similar sources like this, should be excluded 
from taxation because they are receiving back what was rightfully 
theirs to begin with. The sum total of payments coming to the needy 
Holocaust survivors in the United States from this fund is $31.4 
million.
  Moreover, funds are being established by banks and corporations in 
France, Austria, Italy, and Germany to compensate claimants for 
wrongfully held bank deposits, insurance policies, slave labor, and 
other losses.
  Survivors who have sued banks, insurance companies, and manufacturers 
which profited from slave labor during the Holocaust, did so because 
there was no other way for them to seek justice. Deprived of their 
assets, or those of their families for over fifty years, survivors 
fought unsuccessfully until now to receive what belonged to them.
  With the average age of Holocaust survivors at 80, there is little 
time for debate over these payments which will ease life for the 
survivors in their final years. To tax them for the long overdue 
receipt of assets would be wrong and immoral. What these survivors will 
receive from the various funds will be money that is rightfully theirs 
in the first place.
  The survivors of man's greatest inhumanity to man deserve justice. 
After escaping death at the hands of the Nazis, they were again 
victimized by European bankers and insurers. Those who endured the 
tortures of slave labor have never been compensated for their servitude 
to the Nazis. Now that they have received some measure of justice, let 
us not make them wait any longer for what is rightfully theirs.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record,  as follows:

                                 S. 779

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

     SECTION 1. NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX ON AMOUNTS RECEIVED BY 
                   HOLOCAUST VICTIMS OR THEIR HEIRS.

       (a) In General.--For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code 
     of 1986, gross income shall not include any amount received 
     by an individual (or any heir of the individual)--
       (1) from the Swiss Humanitarian Fund established by the 
     Government of Switzerland or from any similar fund 
     established by any foreign country, or
       (2) as a result of the settlement of the action entitled 
     ``In re Holocaust Victims' Asset Litigation'', (E.D. NY), 
     C.A. No. 96-4849, or as a result of any similar action.
       (b) Effective Date.--This section shall apply to any amount 
     received before, on, or after the date of the enactment of 
     this Act.

  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senators Fitzgerald, 
Moynihan, and Schumer in introducing this important legislation, which 
would prevent the federal government from taxing away any monies 
obtained by Holocaust survivors or their families in a settlement 
related to thefts by the Nazis or their sympathizers.
  The horrors of the Nazi regime and its atrocities remain very much 
with us. Many people in America and around the world, particularly 
Jews, must live every day with memories of atrocities suffered or 
witnessed, either by themselves or by those they love, during the Nazi 
terror. Ghettoes, death camps and simple murder were the stuff of daily 
life for millions of innocent people during this terrible time of Nazi 
power.
  Only recently has public attention been properly directed toward 
another great crime of the Nazi regime and those who cooperated with 
it: A 1998 study by the Institute of the World Jewish Congress 
estimates that between $90 billion and $140 billion in today's dollars 
was stolen from the Jewish populations of countries occupied by the 
Nazis. In addition to committing outright theft and looting, the Nazis 
seized liquid assets that could be converted easily into cash, such as 
insurance policy proceeds and bank accounts. Documents discovered by 
Risk International Services, Inc., an insurance archaeology firm, show 
that the Nazis specifically targeted insurance policies held by Jews as 
a source of

[[Page S3642]]

funding for their expansionist, totalitarian regime.
  Some insurance companies also specifically (and illegally) targeted 
Jewish families. Knowing that Jewish policy holders soon would be taken 
to concentration camps, these firms sold specifically tailored 
policies, taking as much cash as possible up front, with no intention 
of honoring their obligations.
  After the war, Holocaust survivors attempted to collect on their 
policies, access their bank accounts and/or reclaim assets that had 
been illegally seized. Unfortunately, governments, banks and insurance 
companies failed to fulfill their duty to treat Holocaust victims with 
justice and dignity. Instead, Mr. President, they refused to honor 
policies or return stolen assets. In this way they compounded crime 
with crime and denied people who already had suffered more than most of 
us could bear the rightful means by which to rebuild their lives.
  Finally, after over 50 years of injustice, Holocaust survivors and 
their families are reclaiming what is rightfully theirs. But, even as 
we support these efforts to reclaim stolen property, I believe we must 
do our part in protecting the proceeds. Under current law, any money 
received by Holocaust survivors in their settlements with banks and 
other organizations that once cooperated with the Nazis would be 
treated as gross income for federal tax purposes.
  Mr. President, I firmly believe that victims of the Holocaust have 
suffered far too much for any such taxation to be just. These 
settlements represent but a fraction of what is owed to those who 
suffered under Nazi tyranny. To treat them as income subject to 
taxation would be wrong.
  This is why this legislation is so important. It will prevent the 
federal government from taxing away any monies obtained by Holocaust 
survivors or their families in a settlement related to thefts by the 
Nazis or their sympathizers. It will prevent yet another injustice from 
being done to those who survived the brutal Nazi regime. It will also 
keep our nation firmly on the side of justice.
                                 ______