Performing Artist Tax Parity Act of 2025
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Performing Artist Tax Parity Act of 2025
This bill increases the income limit and makes other modifications to the above-the-line tax deduction for business expenses of qualified performing artists. (Above-the-line deductions are subtracted from gross income to calculate adjusted gross income.)
Under current law, a qualified performing artist (who may deduct certain business expenses from gross income) is defined as an individual who (1) performs services in the performing arts as an employee for at least two employers during the tax year and receives at least $200 from each employer (minimum payment), (2) has business deductions attributable to such services exceeding 10% of the gross income received from such services, and (3) has adjusted gross income of $16,000 or less.
The bill modifies the definition of a qualified performing artist (for purposes of the business expense deduction) to eliminate the $16,000 adjusted gross income limitation and increase the minimum payment amount to $500 (adjusted for inflation beginning in 2026).
However, under the bill, the tax deduction for business expenses of qualified performing artists phases out for individuals with gross income exceeding $100,000 (or $200,000 for joint filers) such that the tax deduction completely phases out for individuals with gross income exceeding $120,000 (or $240,000 for joint filers). (The phase-out threshold is adjusted for inflation beginning in 2026.)
Finally, the bill provides that commissions paid to a manager or agent by a qualified performing artist are deductible business expenses.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on March 25, 2025. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on March 25, 2025: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced it on March 25, 2025, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on March 25, 2025, 534 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 534 days ago, on March 25, 2025.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers