Dreier Votes to Make Permanent
Repeal of Death Tax

June 6, 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Calling the looming expiration of the death tax repeal “bad for the economy and unfair to America’s farmers and small business owners,” Congressman David Dreier (R-San Dimas), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, voted today to make the repeal permanent after 2010 when it’s set to expire. The Permanent Death Tax Repeal Act of 2002, H.R. 2143, was approved in the House today with bipartisan support, 256-171.

“Making the repeal of the death tax permanent is key to economic planning and investment in the next decade,” Dreier said. “We shouldn’t let the year 2010 hang out there as a ‘must die by’ date. It’s important that we send a clear signal to America’s farmers and small businesses that they can plan with a better degree of certainty for their futures beyond 2010. If we can make the difficulty of losing a loved one a little easier to bear by completely eliminating this unfair and onerous tax, then we should do so.”

In the tax relief bill signed by the President last year, the death tax will be phased out gradually by the year 2010. But due to an arcane Senate rule, a sunset provision was put into H.R. 1836, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, that would reverse the tax relief on January 1, 2011. The bill approved today would make permanent the provision of H.R. 1836 that phases out the death tax.

According to the National Federation of Independent Business, more than 70 percent of family businesses do not survive the second generation and 87 percent of family businesses do not make it to the third generation. Sixty percent of small business owners report that they would create new jobs over the coming year if death taxes were eliminated.

“At the end of the day, the death tax amounts to double taxation,” Dreier said. “Americans work hard and pay taxes all their lives. Their families shouldn’t be forced to pay again when they die. It’s bad economic policy, and it’s simply unfair.”