I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1753
To provide tax incentives that support local media.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY27, 2025
Ms. T
ENNEY(for herself and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To provide tax incentives that support local media.
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 ‘‘Community News and 4
Small Business Support Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR ADVERTISING IN LOCAL MEDIA. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub-7
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 8
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 9
section: 10
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‘‘SEC. 45BB. ADVERTISING IN LOCAL MEDIA. 1
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, in 2
the case of any eligible small business, the local media ad-3
vertising credit determined under this section for any tax-4
able year is an amount equal to the applicable percentage 5
of the qualified local media advertising expenses paid or 6
incurred by the taxpayer during such taxable year. 7
‘‘(b) L
IMITATION.—The credit allowed under sub-8
section (a) to any taxpayer for any taxable year shall not 9
exceed— 10
‘‘(1) in the case of the first taxable year to 11
which this section applies, $5,000, and 12
‘‘(2) in the case of any subsequent taxable year, 13
$2,500. 14
‘‘(c) A
PPLICABLEPERCENTAGE.—For purposes of 15
this section, the term ‘applicable percentage’ means— 16
‘‘(1) in the case of the first taxable year to 17
which this section applies, 80 percent, and 18
‘‘(2) in the case of any subsequent taxable year, 19
50 percent. 20
‘‘(d) E
LIGIBLESMALLBUSINESS.—For purposes of 21
this section, the term ‘eligible small business’ means any 22
person for any taxable year if the average number of full- 23
time employees (as determined for purposes of deter-24
mining whether an employer is an applicable large em-25
ployer for purposes of section 4980H(c)(2) of the Internal 26
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Revenue Code of 1986) employed by such person during 1
such taxable year was less than 50. 2
‘‘(e) Q
UALIFIEDLOCALMEDIAADVERTISINGEX-3
PENSES.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified 4
local media advertising expenses’ means amounts paid or 5
incurred in the ordinary course of a trade or business 6
for— 7
‘‘(1) advertising in a local newspaper, or 8
‘‘(2) advertising on any broadcast radio or tele-9
vision station licensed by the Federal Communica-10
tions Commission to serve a local community. 11
For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘advertising’ in-12
cludes sponsorships. 13
‘‘(f) L
OCALNEWSPAPER.—For purposes of this sec-14
tion— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘local newspaper’ 16
means any print or digital publication if— 17
‘‘(A) the primary content of such publica-18
tion is original content derived from primary 19
sources and relating to news and current 20
events, 21
‘‘(B) such publication primarily serves the 22
needs of a regional or local community, 23
‘‘(C) the publisher of such publication— 24
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‘‘(i) employs at least one full-time 1
local news journalist who resides in such 2
regional or local community, 3
‘‘(ii) employs not greater than 750 4
employees, and 5
‘‘(iii) is not— 6
‘‘(I) an organization described in 7
paragraph (4), (5), or (6) of section 8
501(c), 9
‘‘(II) a political organization (as 10
defined in section 527(e)), 11
‘‘(III) any organization controlled 12
by one or more organizations de-13
scribed in subclauses (I) or (II), or 14
‘‘(IV) any organization that re-15
ceived more than $100,000 (in the ag-16
gregate) from organizations described 17
in subclauses (I), (II), or (III) during 18
the taxable year or any preceding tax-19
able year. 20
‘‘(2) L
OCAL NEWS JOURNALIST .—For purposes 21
of paragraph (1)(C)(i), the term ‘local news jour-22
nalist’ means any individual who regularly gathers, 23
prepares, produces, collects, edits, photographs, 24
records, directs the recording of, writes, presents, or 25
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reports news or information that concerns local 1
events or other matters of local public interest. 2
‘‘(3) A
GGREGATION RULE.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of 4
clauses (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (1)(C), all 5
persons treated as a single employer under sub-6
section (a) or (b) of section 52, or subsection 7
(m) or (o) of section 414, shall be treated as 8
one person. 9
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) 10
shall not apply unless such persons are involved 11
in the production of the same print or digital 12
publication. 13
‘‘(4) C
ONTINUOUS QUALIFICATION .—The re-14
quirements of paragraph (1)(C) shall not be treated 15
as met unless such requirements are met at all times 16
during the period beginning on the date which is 1 17
year before the date of the enactment of this section 18
and ending on the date that the subscription de-19
scribed in subsection (a) is paid or incurred. 20
‘‘(g) S
PECIALRULES.— 21
‘‘(1) D
ENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT .—No deduc-22
tion shall be allowed for any qualified local media 23
advertising expenses otherwise allowable as a deduc-24
tion for the taxable year which is equal to the 25
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amount of the credit determined for such taxable 1
year under subsection (a). 2
‘‘(2) A
GGREGATION RULE.—All persons treated 3
as a single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of 4
section 52 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or 5
subsection (m) or (o) of section 414 of such Code, 6
shall be treated as one person for purposes of apply-7
ing subsection (b). 8
‘‘(h) T
ERMINATION.—No credit shall be allowed 9
under this section for any amount paid or incurred in a 10
taxable year ending after the close of 5-year period begin-11
ning on the date of the enactment of this section.’’. 12
(b) C
REDITALLOWED ASPART OFGENERALBUSI-13
NESSCREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended 14
by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (40), by strik-15
ing the period at the end of paragraph (41) and inserting 16
‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the following new para-17
graph: 18
‘‘(42) in the case of an eligible small business, 19
the local media advertising credit determined under 20
section 45BB(a).’’. 21
(c) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 22
for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 23
of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol-24
lowing new item: 25
‘‘Sec. 45BB. Advertising in local media.’’.
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(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1
this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred in tax-2
able years beginning after the date of the enactment of 3
this Act. 4
SEC. 3. PAYROLL CREDIT FOR COMPENSATION OF LOCAL 5
NEWS JOURNALIST. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subchapter D of chapter 21 of the 7
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 8
the end the following new section: 9
‘‘SEC. 3135. LOCAL NEWS JOURNALIST COMPENSATION 10
CREDIT. 11
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—In the case of an eligible local 12
news journalist employer, there shall be allowed as a credit 13
against applicable employment taxes for each calendar 14
quarter an amount equal to the applicable percentage of 15
the wages paid by such employer to local news journalists 16
for such calendar quarter. 17
‘‘(b) L
IMITATIONS ANDREFUNDABILITY.— 18
‘‘(1) L
IMITATION ON NUMBER OF LOCAL NEWS 19
JOURNALISTS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT .—The number 20
of employees of any eligible local news journalist em-21
ployer which are taken into account as local news 22
journalists under subsection (a) for any calendar 23
quarter shall not exceed 1,500. 24
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‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON WAGES TAKEN INTO AC -1
COUNT.—The amount of wages paid with respect to 2
any individual which may be taken into account 3
under subsection (a) during any calendar quarter by 4
the eligible local news journalist employer shall not 5
exceed $12,500. 6
‘‘(3) C
REDIT LIMITED TO EMPLOYMENT 7
TAXES.—The credit allowed by subsection (a) with 8
respect to any calendar quarter shall not exceed the 9
applicable employment taxes (reduced by any credits 10
allowed under sections 3131, 3132, and 3134) on 11
the wages paid with respect to the employment of all 12
the employees of the eligible local news journalist 13
employer for such calendar quarter. 14
‘‘(4) R
EFUNDABILITY OF EXCESS CREDIT .—If 15
the amount of the credit under subsection (a) ex-16
ceeds the limitation of paragraph (3) for any cal-17
endar quarter, such excess shall be treated as an 18
overpayment that shall be refunded under sections 19
6402(a) and 6413(b). 20
‘‘(c) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 21
‘‘(1) A
PPLICABLE PERCENTAGE .—The term 22
‘applicable percentage’ means— 23
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‘‘(A) in the case of each of the first 4 cal-1
endar quarters to which this section applies, 50 2
percent; and 3
‘‘(B) in the case of each calendar quarter 4
thereafter, 30 percent. 5
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE LOCAL NEWS JOURNALIST EM -6
PLOYER.—The term ‘eligible local news journalist 7
employer’ means, with respect to any calendar quar-8
ter, any employer if substantially all of the gross re-9
ceipts of such employer for such calendar quarter 10
are derived in the trade or business of publishing 11
local newspapers (as defined in section 45BB(f)). 12
‘‘(3) L
OCAL NEWS JOURNALIST .—The term 13
‘local news journalist’ means, with respect to any eli-14
gible local news journalist employer for any calendar 15
quarter, any individual who provides at least 200 16
hours of service as a local news journalist (as de-17
fined in section 45BB(f)(2)) during such calendar 18
quarter to such eligible local news journalist em-19
ployer. 20
‘‘(4) A
PPLICABLE EMPLOYMENT TAXES .—The 21
term ‘applicable employment taxes’ means the fol-22
lowing: 23
‘‘(A) The taxes imposed under section 24
3111(b). 25
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‘‘(B) So much of the taxes imposed under 1
section 3221(a) as are attributable to the rate 2
in effect under section 3111(b). 3
‘‘(d) A
GGREGATIONRULE.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—All persons treated as a 5
single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of sec-6
tion 52 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or 7
subsection (m) or (o) of section 414 of such Code, 8
shall be treated as one employer for purposes of this 9
section. 10
‘‘(2) E
XCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 11
apply unless such persons are involved in the pro-12
duction of the same print or digital publication. 13
‘‘(e) C
ERTAINRULES TOAPPLY.—For purposes of 14
this section— 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Rules similar to the rules 16
of sections 51(i)(1) and 280C(a) of the Internal 17
Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply. 18
‘‘(2) E
XCEPTION TO RELATED PARTY RULES .— 19
In the case of an eligible local news journalist em-20
ployer which employs fewer than 15 local news jour-21
nalists during the calendar quarter, paragraph (1) 22
shall be applied without regard to the reference to 23
section 51(i)(1). 24
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‘‘(f) CERTAINGOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYERS.—This 1
credit shall not apply to the Government of the United 2
States, the government of any State or political subdivi-3
sion thereof, or any agency or instrumentality of any of 4
the foregoing. 5
‘‘(g) E
LECTION TOHAVESECTIONNOTAPPLY.— 6
This section shall not apply with respect to any eligible 7
local news journalist employer for any calendar quarter 8
if such person elects (at such time and in such manner 9
as the Secretary may prescribe) not to have this section 10
apply. 11
‘‘(h) S
PECIALRULES.— 12
‘‘(1) E
MPLOYEE NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT 13
MORE THAN ONCE .—An employee shall not be in-14
cluded for purposes of this section for any period 15
with respect to any employer if such employer is al-16
lowed a credit under section 51 of the Internal Rev-17
enue Code of 1986 with respect to such employee for 18
such period. 19
‘‘(2) D
ENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT .—Any 20
wages taken into account in determining the credit 21
allowed under this section shall not be taken into ac-22
count for purposes of determining the credit allowed 23
under section 41, 45A, 45P, 45S, or 1396. 24
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‘‘(3) THIRD-PARTY PAYORS.—Any credit al-1
lowed under this section shall be treated as a credit 2
described in section 3511(d)(2). 3
‘‘(4) T
REATMENT OF DEPOSITS .—The Sec-4
retary shall waive any penalty under section 6656 of 5
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for any failure 6
to make a deposit of any applicable employment 7
taxes if the Secretary determines that such failure 8
was due to the reasonable anticipation of the credit 9
allowed under this section. 10
‘‘(5) E
XTENSION OF LIMITATION ON ASSESS -11
MENT.—Notwithstanding section 6501, the limita-12
tion on the time period for the assessment of any 13
amount attributable to a credit claimed under this 14
section shall not expire before the date that is 5 15
years after the later of— 16
‘‘(A) the date on which the original return 17
which includes the calendar quarter with re-18
spect to which such credit is determined is filed, 19
or 20
‘‘(B) the date on which such return is 21
treated as filed under section 6501(b)(2). 22
‘‘(i) R
EGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE.—The Secretary 23
shall issue such forms, instructions, regulations, and guid-24
ance as are necessary— 25
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‘‘(1) with respect to the application of the cred-1
it under subsection (a) to third-party payors (includ-2
ing professional employer organizations, certified 3
professional employer organizations, or agents under 4
section 3504 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986), 5
including regulations or guidance allowing such 6
payors to submit documentation necessary to sub-7
stantiate the eligible employer status of employers 8
that use such payors, and 9
‘‘(2) to prevent the avoidance of the purposes of 10
the limitations under this section, including through 11
the leaseback of employees. 12
Any forms, instructions, regulations, or other guidance de-13
scribed in paragraph (2) shall require the customer to be 14
responsible for the accounting of the credit and for any 15
liability for improperly claimed credits and shall require 16
the certified professional employer organization or other 17
third party payor to accurately report such tax credits 18
based on the information provided by the customer. 19
‘‘(j) A
PPLICATION.—This section shall not apply to 20
any calendar quarter beginning more than 5 years after 21
the date of the enactment of this section.’’. 22
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 23
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(1) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 1
States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘3135,’’ after 2
‘‘3134,’’. 3
(2) The table of sections for subchapter D of 4
chapter 21 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 5
amended by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘Sec. 3135. Local news journalist compensation credit.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 7
this section shall apply to calendar quarters beginning 8
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 9
Æ
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