[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 23, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4298-S4299]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. COLLINS:
  S. 2605. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to expand 
income averaging to include the trade or business of fishing and to 
provide a business credit against income for the purchase of fishing 
safety equipment; to the Committee on Finance.


                Tax Legislation for Commercial Fishermen

  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
designed to help commercial fishermen navigate the often choppy waters 
of the Internal Revenue Code.
  The legislation I am introducing would make two commonsense changes 
to our tax laws. First, my legislation would extend a $1,500 tax credit 
to commercial fishermen to assist them in the purchase of important 
safety equipment.
  Commercial fishermen engage in one of the most dangerous professions 
in America. They have a higher fatality rate than even firefighters, 
police officers, truck or taxi drivers. From 1994 to 1998, 396 
commercial fishermen lost their lives while fishing. Last year, in the 
wake of catastrophic events that killed 11 fishermen over the course of 
only 1 month, the Coast Guard Fishing Vessel Casualty Task Force was 
convened. The task force issued a report that draws several conclusions 
about current fishing vessel safety. Despite the grim safety statistics 
surrounding the profession of fishing, the report concludes that most 
fishing deaths are preventable. One significant way to prevent these 
tragic deaths is to make safety equipment on commercial fishing vessels 
more widely available.
  As those of us who represent States with commercial fishing 
industries may recall, in 1988, Congress passed the Commercial Fishing 
Industry Vessel Safety Act. This act required lifesaving and 
firefighting equipment to be placed on board all fishing boats. 
Unfortunately, the cost of some of the safety equipment has proven to 
be a serious practical impediment for many commercial fishermen. The 
margin of profit for some commercial fishermen is simply too narrow and 
they simply lack the funds required to purchase the expensive safety 
equipment they require.
  Moreover, as the fishing industry has come under increasingly heavy 
Federal regulation, fishermen have often felt compelled to greatly 
increase their productivity on those days when they are permitted to 
fish. As a result, too many take dangerous risks in order to earn a 
living.
  Just this last January, in my home State of Maine, a terrible and 
tragic incident highlighted the critical importance of safety 
equipment. Two very experienced fishermen tragically drowned off Cape 
Neddick when their commercial fishing vessel capsized during a storm. 
The sole survivor of this tragedy was the fisherman who was able to 
correctly put on an immersion suit, a safety suit that the Coast Guard 
has required on cold water commercial fishing boats since the early 
1990s.
  In fact, immersion suits, liferafts, and emergency locater devices 
have been credited with saving more than 200 lives since 1993. By 
providing a $1,500 tax credit for fishermen to purchase safety 
equipment, my legislation would encourage the wider availability and 
use of safety equipment on our Nation's commercial fishing boats. We 
should take this sensible step to help ensure that fishermen do not set 
off without essential safety gear.
  The second provision of my bill would eliminate some of the perils 
that the Tax Code has that particularly affect commercial fishermen. I 
propose to allow fishermen to use income-averaging tax provisions that 
are now available to our Nation's farmers. For tax purposes, income 
averaging allows individuals to carry back income from a boom year to a 
prior less prosperous year. This tax treatment assists individuals who 
must adapt to wide fluctuations in their income from year to year by 
preventing them from being pushed into higher tax brackets in random 
good years.

  Until 1986, both farmers and fishermen were covered under the Tax 
Code's income-averaging provisions. However, income averaging 
disappeared as part of the tax restructuring undertaken in 1986. In 
1997, income-averaging provisions were again reintroduced into our Tax 
Code, but unfortunately, under the changes in the 1997 law, only 
farmers were permitted to benefit from this tax relief. The Tax and 
Trade Relief Extension Act of 1998 permanently extended this tax relief 
provision, but again only for our farmers.
  Although I am very pleased that Congress has restored income 
averaging for our Nation's farmers, I do not believe our fishermen 
should be left out in the

[[Page S4299]]

cold and excluded from using income averaging. The legislation that I 
introduce today would restore fairness by extending income averaging to 
our fishermen as well as our farmers.
  Parallel tax treatment for fishermen and farmers is appropriate for 
many reasons. Currently, unlike farmers, fishermen's sole tax 
protection to handle fluctuations in income are found in the Tax Code's 
net operating loss provisions. These provisions do not provide the tax 
benefits of income averaging and are so complex in their computation 
that it often defies the ability of any individual without a CPA after 
his or her name.
  Most importantly, both farm and fishing income can fluctuate widely 
from year to year due to a wide range of uncontrollable circumstances, 
including market prices, the weather and, in the case of fishing, 
Government restrictions.
  I urge my colleagues to help our fishermen cope with the fluctuations 
in their income by restoring this important tax provision and by 
extending a safety tax credit to help protect them from the hazards 
that their fishing profession entails.
                                 ______