I ran across this while researching something else:
“Embedded in the 1,489-page [1986 Tax Bill] now before the Senate are more than $5 billion of special favors that senators have been able to insert for their constituents. Many would protect existing tax benefits for public or semipublic projects now being planned or under construction…
One provision sponsored by Senator Malcolm Wallop, Republican of Wyoming, would settle a Tax Court case that has been pending since 1977.
**It involves the estate of James H. W. Thompson, a wealthy silk merchant who disappeared in 1967. The I.R.S. disallowed $237,448 of charitable deductions claimed by the estate. The money went to help his art-adorned house in Bangkok, Thailand, that now serves as a museum.**
**An aide to Senator Wallop said the estate would have to sell the museum if the extra tax must be paid.** ”It’s pretty holy, isn’t it?” said the aide. ”The Senator likes to do good things.””
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/06/business/senators-won-many-exceptions-in-bill-to-aid-specific-taxpayers.html
