[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 151 (Wednesday, November 20, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11796-S11797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HOLOCAUST RESTITUTION TAX FAIRNESS ACT OF 2002

  Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. President, this year we mark the 57th anniversary 
of the end of the Holocaust. There are as many as 10,000 survivors of 
the Holocaust in my home State of Illinois, and over 100,000 in the 
entire United States, with an average age of over 80.
  Last year, Congress passed legislation I introduced exempting 
restitution paid to Holocaust victims and their families from Federal 
income tax. Unfortunately, this had to be done as an amendment to the 
2001 tax relief bill, all of the provisions of which expire at the end 
of the year 2010. In other words, under current law, the tax exemption 
afforded to Holocaust restitution payments by last year's legislation 
will expire on December 21, 2010.
  According to current estimates, there will be over 90,000 Holocaust 
survivors in the year 2010, and over 35,000 in 2020. Without the 
assurance of permanence in Federal tax policy towards Holocaust 
restitution payments, victims of the Holocaust and their families will 
suffer significant risk and uncertainty in tax planning and other 
important personal decisions.
  The Federal Government should not make one dime on Holocaust 
restitution, ever. The legislation we pass today--the Holocaust 
Restitution Tax Fairness Act of 2002--addresses this problem by 
ensuring that Holocaust restitution and compensation payments will 
never be taxed by the federal government.

[[Page S11797]]

  I want to thank the sixteen Senators who cosponsored this bill, as 
well as Representative Clay Shaw, who spearheaded House passage of the 
House version of this bill earlier this year. I also want to thank the 
Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith International, the Conference on 
Jewish Material Claims, the International Commission on Holocaust Era 
Insurance Claims, the American Jewish Committee, the Union of Orthodox 
Jewish Congregations of America, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, 
and the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors--the largest 
organization of Holocaust survivors in America. The support of these 
groups was critical in shepherding this legislation through the Senate.
  After more than 50 years of injustice, Holocaust survivors and their 
families are reclaiming what is rightfully theirs. In passing this 
legislation today, Congress has done its part to protect the proceeds--
and make that protection permanent.

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