PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. LaHood, Darin [R-IL-16] · R–IL
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Oct 2, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze H.R.10499 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine H.R.10499 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine H.R.10499 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine H.R.10499 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.
PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2026-09-17 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Meals for Communities Tax Credit Act would give restaurants and retail food establishments a federal tax credit for donating prepared meals to qualifying charities. A tax credit reduces taxes owed. The credit would equal half the donations’ qualifying value, subject to limits on the value counted for each donation and the annual credit. Businesses could not also deduct amounts used to calculate the credit.
This Act may be cited as the Meals for Communities Tax Credit Act.
the qualified prepared meal donation credit determined under this section for the taxable year is an amount equal to 50 percent of the fair market value of all qualified prepared meal donations made by the taxpayer during the taxable year.
The term eligible business means any restaurant or retail food establishment.
The fair market value with respect to any qualified prepared meal donation shall not exceed $14.
The credit determined under this section with respect to any taxpayer for any taxable year shall not exceed $50,000.
No deduction shall be allowed under this chapter for any amount taken into account in determining the credit under this section.
The proposed credit would be available to restaurants and retail food establishments. It would equal 50 percent of the fair market value of their qualifying prepared-meal donations during the tax year.
For purposes of section 38, in the case of an eligible business, the qualified prepared meal donation credit determined under this section for the taxable year is an amount equal to 50 percent of the fair market value of all qualified prepared meal donations made by the taxpayer during the taxable year.
The term eligible business means any restaurant or retail food establishment.
A donation would have to qualify as a charitable contribution under the referenced tax law and go to a tax-exempt section 501(c)(3) organization. Private foundations would be excluded unless they qualify as operating foundations under the referenced law. The Secretary would define what counts as a prepared meal.
The term qualified prepared meal donation means any charitable contribution (as defined in section 170(c)) of a prepared meal (as defined by the Secretary) to an organization which is described in section 501(c)(3) and is exempt from tax under section 501(a) (other than a private foundation, as defined in section 509(a), which is not an operating foundation, as defined in section 4942(j)(3)).
The value counted for each qualifying meal donation would initially be capped at $14. For tax years beginning after 2026, that cap would increase using the referenced cost-of-living formula, with 2025 substituted as its base year.
The fair market value with respect to any qualified prepared meal donation shall not exceed $14.
In the case of a taxable year beginning after 2026, the $14 amount in subparagraph (A) shall be increased by an amount equal to— (i) such dollar amount, multiplied by (ii) the cost-of-living adjustment determined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar year in which the taxable year begins, determined by substituting calendar year 2025 for calendar year 2016 in subparagraph (A)(ii) thereof.
Each taxpayer’s credit would be capped at $50,000 per tax year. Amounts used to calculate the credit could not also support a deduction under the same tax-code chapter.
The credit determined under this section with respect to any taxpayer for any taxable year shall not exceed $50,000.
No deduction shall be allowed under this chapter for any amount taken into account in determining the credit under this section.
The bill would add the meal-donation credit to the general business credit framework—the tax code’s system for combining specified business tax credits.
(b) Credit made part of general business credit Subsection (b) of section 38 of such Code is amended by striking plus at the end of paragraph (40), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (41) and inserting , plus, and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: (42) in the case of an eligible business (as defined in section 45BB(c)(2)), the qualified prepared meal donation credit determined under section 45BB(a).
The Secretary would be required to issue regulations or other guidance as necessary or appropriate to carry out the credit.
The Secretary shall prescribe such regulations or other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this section.
If enacted as written, the amendments would apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2025.
The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated October 2, 2026, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Ways and Means on September 17, 2026.
Source snapshot updated 2026-10-02T20:05:36Z. 2026-09-17: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. 2026-09-17: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2026-09-17. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not extend to other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish the absence of earmarks in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow preference beyond the proposed program’s intended beneficiaries and ordinary eligibility rules was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Oct 2, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI