[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 73 (Thursday, June 6, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E970]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


             HOLOCAUST RESTITUTION TAX FAIRNESS ACT OF 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 4, 2002

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the 
Holocaust Restitution Tax Fairness Act of 2002 to repeal the sunset of 
the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. This 
bill which allows the continued exemption of Holocaust related payments 
from federal income tax is an important and symbolic gesture on behalf 
of eligible individuals who were persecuted on the basis of religion, 
physical and mental disability, sexual orientation by Nazi Germany.
  A reparation fund established by Germany makes approximately 60,000 
payments to individuals living in the United States. Payments also come 
from countries and industries that benefited from slave labor or 
property confiscation during the Nazi era.
  Payments to Holocaust survivors should not be subject to U.S. income 
tax. The Exclusion From Federal Income Tax For Restitution Received by 
Victims of the Nazi Regime was enacted as a thoughtful way to bring 
closure to a painful period in history.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation on behalf of victims 
of the Nazi regime.

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