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Floor Speech

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Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Madam President, I rise to speak in support of the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act, which Senator Blackburn and I introduced today. Representatives Linda Sanchez and Ron Estes have introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

The U.S. Tax Code allows film, television, and theater productions to fully deduct production expenses in the year they are incurred.

However, recording artists are not given the same treatment and instead must amortize their production expenses over a number of years.

Moreover, many live performance stages and venues across the country closed for months as a result of the pandemic. Independent musicians and music makers, including both technicians and creators, suffered more than most other professions during this period, and many continue to recover.

Our bill would provide a measure of relief to music creators by allowing independent musicians, technicians, and music producers to deduct the costs of producing new musical and other sound recordings in the year they are incurred, thereby putting them on a level playing field with film, television, and theater productions.

Specifically, the bill would allow qualified sound recording producers to deduct 100% of recording production expenses--up to $150,000--in the year they are incurred, rather than in later years.

Because this change would simply accelerate a tax deduction that already exists, the bill's cost would be modest.

In addition, because the deduction would be capped at $150,000 per production, our legislation would benefit smaller, independent musicians and music producers rather than large companies.

Music has inspired, comforted, and entertained each of us. Our bill would help create parity between musical creators and other creative producers and stimulate a sector of the economy that is a fundamental part of each of our lives.

I hope my colleagues will join me in support of this bill. ______

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