The Harley Jacobsen Clinical Trial Participant Income Exemption Act proposes exempting clinical trial income from taxes, thereby addressing several critical issues:

• Enhancing the accessibility of trials for vulnerable populations by mitigating the financial burdens that disproportionately affect them.
• Ensuring a diverse participant pool, which is essential for equitable and comprehensive research findings.
• Acknowledging the valuable contributions of trial participants to medical science.
• Supporting the advancement of medical research and the development of new treatments.

This Act could help make clinical trials more inclusive as well as foster a more equitable healthcare landscape.

The Impact of Taxation for Recipients of Low-Income Subsidies

Many living at or below the poverty line rely on social welfare programs to meet their most basic needs. By treating clinical trial payments as taxable income, we are deterring participation by those who rely on public assistance, which disproportionately impacts minority populations. 

This legislation would eliminate the tax on participant payments to make trials accessible to welfare recipients (110 million Americans - 30% of our country). Income from trials threatens their eligibility for welfare benefits, and consequently becomes a barrier that prevents enrollment and/or completion.

This legislation is NOT about trying to enhance the financial appeal of clinical trial participation.

It intends to eliminate the tax on participant payments to make trials accessible to minority populations that are vital to the research, yet often underrepresented in medical research. 

U.S. Revenue Impact and Precedent

Exclusion of clinical trial payments from taxable gross income is unlikely to have a significant revenue impact on the government as payments are generally modest. Often, the payments received for participating in a trial only offset a portion of the expenses incurred to join and remain in the trial without yielding a net financial profit, and therefore, should not be taxable.

There is ample precedent for enacting similar exclusions. Congress has created gross income exclusions to incentivize or reward various socially useful behaviors, including those specific to promoting positive healthcare outcomes. For example, U.S. Code § 104 exempts taxation of compensation for injuries or sickness, and U.S. Code 129 exempts taxation of amounts paid for dependent care assistance. In addition to these income exclusions, the IRS has recognized that certain payments should not be reportable as a matter of public policy. These include payments made to individuals for the benefit of the general welfare, such as certain job training awards (see, e.g., PLR 201127007 (April 5, 2011)) and certain whistleblower awards (see Treas. Reg. §1.6041-1(l)).

With this petition, we are urging policymakers to recognize the importance of the Harley Jacobsen Clinical Trial Participant Income Exemption Act for the future of medical research.

Please sign this petition to support taking this small step that would go far in making clinical trials more inclusive and fostering a more equitable healthcare landscape.