Art Deduction Objections Eased

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has relaxed his opposition to extending a temporary tax law that permits people giving art objects to museums to deduct their full value at the time they are donated.

The decision by U.S. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) may open the way to permanent--and even expanded--tax law revisions sought by arts groups for more than a year.

The Rostenkowski decision was disclosed here Friday at a meeting of the National Council on the Arts, the advisory board to the National Endowment for the Arts.

A spokesman confirmed that the congressman, who wields enormous power over tax legislation in the House, had “apparently moderated” his position on the art-object deduction issue--which has been a source of controversy since 1986.

Before 1986, a person who gave artwork or securities to a charitable institution could deduct from his or her taxable income the appraised value of the art or securities at the time they were donated.