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| Putting the Death Tax in the Deep Freeze |
June 20, 2000 |
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Dear Friends,
About a year ago I visited a company on the frontage road near Paseo del Norte called Lumber, Inc. It was started almost 30 years ago now by two men who were laid off by another lumber yard. Neither one of them could find work, so, they went into business together, poured a slab of concrete, and bought their first load of lumber.
Lumber, Inc. now has over 200 employees -- everyone of whom has a good paying job and health insurance for their family. It is a family business where all of the boys grew up working in the lumber yard. They avoided debt, paid their taxes, and re-invested in the company.
What they didn`t do was hire a bunch of lawyers to figure out how to keep from paying death taxes.
A few years ago, one of the founders and his wife died within a month of each other. The death taxes were 55% of the value of the company.
That family almost had to close the company in order to pay the taxes. That`s not unusual. The National Federation of Independent Businesses estimates that one-third of business owners will have to sell or liquidate the business to pay death taxes. Half of those that liquidate to pay the IRS will eliminate 30 or more jobs.
Lumber, Inc. would have laid off over 200 people if they had closed.
The death tax doesn`t make economic sense and it disproportionately impacts farmers, ranchers and small business people.
The tax relief bill that was passed and vetoed in August 1999 included the gradual elimination of the death tax. Not to be deterred, the House just went back at it again.
On June 9 we passed a bill to eliminate the death tax with a strong bipartisan majority. The vote was 279 to 136. It`s now over in the Senate. With a strong bipartisan vote in the Senate for this popular measure, I think the President might sign it.
Wish you were here,
Heather |
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