Wisconsin Senate Approves Bill That Would Allow Tax Deduction for People Donating Organs

The Wisconsin Senate on Thursday voted to approve a bill (AB 477) that would make the state the first in the nation to allow living organ donors to deduct from their state income taxes up to $10,000 in donation-related expenses and lost wages, the Chicago Sun-Times reports (Fusco, Chicago Sun-Times, 1/23). The bill would allow individuals who donate organs or bone marrow to deduct up to $10,000 in travel and lodging expenses and lost wages resulting from the operation (Richmond, AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1/23). Each donor is expected to receive a tax break of $550, according to the Sun-Times (Chicago Sun-Times, 1/23). A financial analysis estimates that if the law had been enacted in 2002, when 213 Wisconsin residents were live organ donors, the state would have lost $115,000 in revenue, assuming all donors claimed the maximum $10,000 deduction, the AP/ Pioneer Press reports (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1/23). Gov. Jim Doyle (D) is expected to sign the bill, which the State Assembly in November voted 95-1 to approve. State Rep. Steve Wieckert (R), the bill's sponsor, said, "It's a great thing. We are trying to reduce the disincentives for donating. If you donate an organ, that's noble enough. You shouldn't have to pay to be able to do it" (Chicago Sun-Times, 1/23). But Howard Nathan, president and CEO of the Gift of Life Donor Program, said, "When you get as high as $10,000 you start to wonder what that means to people and if there is some coercion that goes on with that." Others question whether the legislation would violate the National Organ Transplant Act, which bans the purchase and sale of human organs, the New York Times reports. Wieckert said that the bill would be within federal guidelines because the ban excludes payment for costs associated with travel, lodging and lost wages. He added, "We want to be very careful that we are not getting into the business of selling organs but to encourage organ donation" (Napolitano, New York Times, 1/23). Wieckert said, "If we can do it in Wisconsin, people in other states are going to see they can do it as well" (Jones, Appleton Post Crescent, 1/23). Indiana legislators on Tuesday introduced a similar bill (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 1/23). The Kansas Legislature in 2000 considered a similar bill approving a tax deduction for people donating blood and organs, but it stalled in committee after the state attorney general wrote in an opinion that the proposal was prohibited by federal law (New York Times, 1/23).