WASHINGTON – Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin voted today to make permanent a tax exemption on payments made to Holocaust victims or their heirs by European governments and industries. Currently, 60,000 individuals residing in the United States are receiving such restitution payments.

    The tax cut package that passed Congress last fall made these restitution payments tax exempt for 10 years. The exemption is scheduled to expire in 2011. The Holocaust Restitution Tax Fairness Act would permanently remove such reparation payments from U.S. taxation, allowing Holocaust victims and their heirs to receive the full benefit of restitution payments made by countries and industries that benefited from forced labor or property confiscation during the Nazi era.

    "The victims and families of the Holocaust have already paid a terrible price. No amount of money can compensate for their suffering, but Congress can guarantee that survivors can keep the full amount paid to them as restitution," said Rep. Cardin, a Commissioner on the Helsinki Commission, which monitors human rights abuses.

    The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany is overseeing payments from a reparation fund established by Germany. There also are other on-going payments from other European countries and industries that benefited from forced labor and property confiscation.