Allows a taxpayer or the spouse of a taxpayer to deduct costs related to the taxpayer's organ donation; includes child care costs within such allowable costs.
Summary
S00375 would amend New York’s personal income tax law to expand and clarify the existing tax subtraction for living organ donors. Under current law, a taxpayer may claim up to a $10,000 subtraction for unreimbursed expenses related to donating a human organ; this bill keeps that cap but updates the language to use gender-neutral terminology and expressly allows the deduction for certain expenses incurred by the taxpayer or the taxpayer’s spouse. The bill also adds child care costs to the list of eligible unreimbursed expenses, alongside travel, lodging, and lost wages.
The bill defines “human organ” to include all or part of a liver, pancreas, kidney, intestine, lung, or bone marrow, and it preserves the rule that the subtraction is claimed in the taxable year when the transplantation occurs. It also maintains the existing exclusion for donations covered by benefits under Public Health Law section 4371, and it continues to limit the subtraction to one claim, while barring part-year residents and nonresidents from using it.
Impact
If enacted, the bill would amend section 612(c) of the Tax Law to broaden the scope of reimbursable organ-donation-related expenses eligible for a state income tax subtraction. The practical effect would be to reduce out-of-pocket costs for living organ donors by allowing child care expenses and spouse-incurred related costs to be counted, potentially making donation more financially feasible for some taxpayers. The bill would not change the maximum subtraction amount of $10,000 or the list of qualifying organs, but it would update statutory language and expand the categories of covered expenses.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials, the measure appears to be framed as a supportive, donor-friendly tax incentive with little visible opposition in the available record. The bill’s purpose is straightforward: to ease the financial burden on living organ donors and modernize the statute’s wording. No formal vote history or transcript evidence suggests organized resistance or controversy in the materials provided.
Contention
The main policy questions raised by the bill are likely to concern the scope and cost of the tax benefit rather than the underlying goal of encouraging organ donation. The most notable expansion is the addition of child care costs and the inclusion of expenses incurred by the taxpayer’s spouse, which could be viewed as a modest but meaningful broadening of eligibility. Potential points of contention could include whether these added expenses should qualify for a tax subtraction, whether the $10,000 cap remains sufficient, and whether the exclusion of part-year residents and nonresidents should remain in place, but no specific opposition is documented in the provided context.
Allows a taxpayer or the spouse of a taxpayer to deduct costs related to the taxpayer's organ donation; includes child care costs within such allowable costs.
Allows a taxpayer or the spouse of a taxpayer to deduct costs related to the taxpayer's organ donation; includes child care costs within such allowable costs.
Establishing the education opportunity tax credit to provide an income tax credit for taxpayers with eligible dependent children who are not enrolled in public school.