Thank You Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4558 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a temporary refundable tax credit for law enforcement officers and an above-the- line deduction for first responders. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 Mr. GRAHAM introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a temporary refundable tax credit for law enforcement officers and an above-the-line deduction for first respond- ers. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Thank You Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY REFUNDABLE CREDIT FOR LAW EN- 5 FORCEMENT OFFICERS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub- 7 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4558.IS S4558 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4558 IS 1986 is amended by inserting after section 36B the fol- 1 lowing new section: 2 ‘‘SEC. 36C. CREDIT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS. 3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual who 4 is employed or who volunteers as an eligible law enforce- 5 ment officer during the first taxable year beginning in 6 2020, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax 7 imposed by this subtitle for such taxable year an amount 8 equal to— 9 ‘‘(1) in the case of an individual who has been 10 employed or who has volunteered as an eligible law 11 enforcement officer for a cumulative period of not 12 less than 10 years, $1,000, and 13 ‘‘(2) in the case of an individual who is not de- 14 scribed in paragraph (1), $500. 15 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.— 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec- 17 tion, the term ‘eligible law enforcement officer’ 18 means— 19 ‘‘(A) any sworn officer, agent, or employee 20 of a State, unit of local government, or an In- 21 dian tribe authorized by law or by a govern- 22 ment agency to engage in or supervise the pre- 23 vention, detection, or investigation of any viola- 24 tion of criminal law, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4558.IS S4558 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4558 IS ‘‘(B) any Federal law enforcement officer, 1 as defined in section 115(c)(1) of title 18, 2 United States Code. 3 ‘‘(2) PART-TIME AND VOLUNTEERS.—For pur- 4 poses of this section, the term ‘eligible law enforce- 5 ment officer’ shall include any individual described 6 in paragraph (1) who is employed or who volunteers 7 on a full-time, part-time, or auxiliary basis during 8 the taxable year.’’. 9 (b) W–2 REPORTING OF YEARS OF SERVICE AS LAW 10 ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—Section 6051(a) of the Inter- 11 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ 12 at the end of paragraph (16), by striking the period at 13 the end of paragraph (17) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by 14 inserting after paragraph (17) the following new para- 15 graph: 16 ‘‘(18) in the case of an individual who was em- 17 ployed or who volunteered as an eligible law enforce- 18 ment officer (as defined in section 36C(b)) during 19 the first taxable year beginning in 2020, the total 20 number of years for which such individual has been 21 employed or volunteered as an eligible law enforce- 22 ment officer.’’. 23 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4558.IS S4558 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4558 IS (1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of the Internal Rev- 1 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ‘‘36C,’’ 2 after ‘‘36B,’’. 3 (2) Paragraph (2) of section 1324(b) of title 4 31, United States Code, is amended by inserting 5 ‘‘36C,’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 6 (3) The table of sections for subpart C of part 7 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev- 8 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the 9 item relating to section 36B the following new item: 10 ‘‘Sec. 36C. Credit for law enforcement officers.’’. (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 11 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 12 December 31, 2019. 13 SEC. 3. ABOVE-THE-LINE DEDUCTION FOR FIRST RESPOND- 14 ERS. 15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part VII of subchapter B of chap- 16 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 17 by redesignating section 224 as section 225 and by insert- 18 ing after section 223 the following new section: 19 ‘‘SEC. 224. FIRST RESPONDERS. 20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual who 21 is employed as an eligible first responder during any tax- 22 able year, there shall be allowed as a deduction for such 23 taxable year an amount equal to $1,500. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4558.IS S4558 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4558 IS ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE FIRST RESPONDER.—For purposes of 1 this section, the term ‘eligible first responder’ has the 2 same meaning given the term ‘emergency response pro- 3 viders’ under section 2(6) of the Homeland Security Act 4 of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101(6)). 5 ‘‘(c) EXCLUSION FOR 2020.—For the first taxable 6 year beginning in 2020, the deduction under subsection 7 (a) shall not be allowed to any individual for whom the 8 credit under section 36C is allowed for such taxable 9 year.’’. 10 (b) ABOVE-THE-LINE DEDUCTION.—Section 62(a) of 11 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by insert- 12 ing after paragraph (22) the following new paragraph: 13 ‘‘(23) FIRST RESPONDERS.—The deduction al- 14 lowed under section 224.’’. 15 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 16 for part VII of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the Internal 17 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating the 18 item relating to section 224 as an item relating to section 19 225 and by inserting after the item relating to section 223 20 the following new item: 21 ‘‘Sec. 224. First responders.’’. (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 22 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 23 December 31, 2019. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Sep 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4558.IS S4558 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS