| Proposed Legislation Aimed at Your Wallet |
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22 October 2009 United States Senator Al Franken (D- Minn) with co-sponsors Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sheldon Whithouse (D - RI) have introduced legislation (S1763) to disallow the federal tax deduction for all advertising and marketing expenses for prescription drugs. As only politicians can, the bill has been cleverly titled, "Protecting Americans from Drug Marketing Act". It would require an amendment to the IRS code. Regardless of your political leanings or your views towards health care policy or government economic policy, make no mistake that such legislation if enacted would profoundly and negatively affect the pocket books of ad agencies, their employees (and most importantly from our view) independent photographers, stylists, reps, agents, illustrators, graphic designers, models, CGI artists and all of the other countess small businesses typically contracted directly or indirectly by the pharmaceutical companies in connection with the production of such advertising. Newspapers and magazines clinging to life will lose the substantial and generally reliable revenues these ads generate. Any further reduction in print advertising revenue will certainly spell doom for more than one publication already on life support. Some may argue that the pharmaceutical companies will advertise no matter what the cost and therefore this bill will have no real effect. We do not represent ad agencies and more often than not our contacts with them are in the role of plaintiff's attorney. We write not to assist ad agencies but rather the more than one thousand of our current and former clients employed or contracted by them. We urge you to independently research this proposed legislation and make your opinion of it (whatever it may be) known to the Senators named above, in writing and as quickly as possible. It is our view that if enacted, this bill will hasten the final demise of independent assignment photographers, illustrators and those whose livelihoods are directly dependant on such creatives. We have sent a letter to each senator named above, incorporating this letter and making our views known. -- Edward C. Greenberg, P.C. 570 Lexington Avenue 17th Floor New York, NY 10022 (212) 697-8777 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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