Fighting Hunger Incentive Act will increase food bank donations

June 10, 2014-Rep. Tom Reed's (R-N.Y.) Fighting Hunger Incentive Act of 2014 (H.R. 4719), which he recently introduced alongside the New York Farm Bureau at the Food Bank of the Southern Tier in Elmira, provides an incentive for restaurants, grocery stores, farmers and other businesses to contribute their excess inventory to local food banks and pantries by permanently extending the food inventory donation tax provision that expired at the end of last year. The Farm Bureau-supported bill provides a tax deduction over the cost of goods if the food is donated to a charitable organization.

Congress temporarily expanded the provision in 2006 and, according to the Food Donation Connection, donations have increased 127 percent since then. The temporary expansion expired at the end of 2013. Without Reed's bill, it is cheaper in most cases for these types of businesses to throw their food away than it is to donate the food. The Fighting Hunger Incentive Act would make the tax provision permanent, allowing more businesses and farmers to take advantage of making food donations.

Photo: Tom Reed talks about his Fighting Hunger Incentive Act at the Food Bank of the Southern Tier in Elmira. Reed is joined by Melody Hartman, personnel manager at Jubilee Foods; Tom Giles with the New York Farm Bureau; and Natasha Thompson, president and CEO of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier.