Ending Tax Breaks for Discrimination Act of 2005

ENDING TAX BREAKS FOR DISCRIMINATION ACT OF 2005 -- (Extensions of Remarks - April 07, 2005)

SPEECH OF
HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2005

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today we are introducing a bill to end government subsidies for private clubs that discriminate against Americans based on sex, race, or color. The Ending Tax Breaks for Discrimination Act of 2005 makes it illegal to deduct expenses at clubs with discriminatory membership policies. We think it's wrong for corporations to write off big expenditures for entertainment, meetings and advertising at clubs that keep women out on America's dollar. Men play and women pay.

I am joined by my distinguished colleague, Representative BRAD SHERMAN from California. In the early '90s Mr. SHERMAN, as a member of the California tax board, implemented legislation similar to this Act. Since then, other states have followed. The time for the federal government to take a stand and end government-subsidized discrimination is long overdue.

Right now, conventions and meetings are considered legitimate business deductions for corporate income tax purposes, including those held at private clubs that discriminate. Half the price of a business lunch is deductible. But if you're a woman, you subsidize one half of a man's lunch with your taxes, even though you can't join the club.

Augusta and other clubs on par with it are already way out of bounds by discriminating. For taxpayers to have to foot the bill for business conducted under these discriminatory conditions is obscene. This is something that comes into focus every Masters Week, but people need to know they are subsidizing discrimination every day of the year.

Members of these clubs profit-either indirectly through career opportunities and board appointments, or directly through tax deductions. Women can't get these same financial gains-just because they're women. Men get the membership, the deal, the deduction, and women get the bill. Ending Tax Breaks for Discrimination Act of 2005 would put a stop to that. It ends deductions for advertising, travel, accommodation and meals associated with these clubs, and it requires discriminatory clubs to print right on their receipts, "not tax deductible".

This bill is not an attack on deductions for big business. Legitimate tax deductions should continue, but when these deductions support clubs that bar Americans from becoming equal partners, equal players, and equal earners-just because of their sex or race-they are NOT legitimate. The time for discrimination is over.

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