[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14915]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           INTRODUCING THE COMPUTERS FOR OUR COMMUNITIES ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 21, 2012

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues John Lewis 
(D-GA) and Gary Peters (D-MI), to introduce the Computers for Our 
Communities Act. This legislation will extend a provision in the tax 
code that encourages companies to donate computer equipment to schools 
and libraries.
  I have a long history with this tax provision. In the early 1980s I 
met a young Steve Jobs who had the pioneering vision to put a computer 
into every classroom in America. However, when companies like Apple 
donated to schools, the deduction was limited to their cost of 
manufacturing the computer. Companies had no incentive to donate 
computers and software to our public schools. With bipartisan support 
in the House and Senate, we amended the tax code and created an 
enhanced tax deduction to encourage companies to donate computers to 
our schools.
  Until 2012, Section 170 of the tax code enabled a corporation to take 
an enhanced deduction when they donated computer equipment to a public 
school, a library, or other educational institutions. We found a middle 
ground that allowed companies to deduct more than their cost of 
manufacturing a computer, but less than the fair market value when they 
provided this public service by donating computer equipment.
  Nearly 30 years after this provision was first added to the tax code, 
a computer in classroom is no longer a revolutionary idea. Computer 
literacy is an even more important issue in a world with so much 
changing technology. Yet this tax deduction is once again on the 
chopping block. The section of the tax code that allows companies to 
take an enhanced tax deduction when computer equipment or software is 
donated to a school, library, or similar institutions, expired at the 
end of 2011. With this legislation, we can retroactively enact this tax 
provision and extend it through the end of next year so there is no 
lapse in coverage.
  Without this legislation, I worry we won't see donations of computer 
equipment to our public schools. Even adults who learn computer skills 
through community programs and public libraries will have to use aging 
technology. Our schools and our cities are already stretched by budget 
cuts and we need to do whatever we can to make sure that everyone has 
the ability to become computer literate.
  The Computers for Our Communities Act will restore this tax provision 
through December 2013 and ensure that America's students will continue 
to have access to the latest technological innovations. If we are 
serious about our commitment to having a computer in every classroom in 
America, we will pass this legislation.

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