Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson

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A Tax Rate Set to Zoom

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  "A race car's most impressive attribute is its ability to go from zero - standing still - to 60 miles per hour in just a few seconds.  Not many things can achieve such velocity so quickly. 

But Americans who have a need for speed will be just as impressed, and more than a little dismayed, to watch the federal estate tax go from zero to 55 in the blink of an eye.  At the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2010, a line will be drawn between Americans who owe no federal taxes on their estate and Americans who owe the government 55 percent of everything they worked for in their lives.

Such is the arbitrary cruelty of the changes coming to the U.S. tax code, pending some kind of action, ANY kind of action, from liberal leaders in the last hours of the 111th Congress. 

But the estate tax stands out for its especially harsh penalty on American families hoping to pass down the farm, the ranch or the small business for which they worked their whole lives.  Any estate like this, valued at more than a million dollars total, falls victim to the Internal Revenue Service's enforcement of a tax assessed upon death.

In 2011, if nothing is done, more than half of many estates - even in Southern Missouri - will be subjected to this penalty.  More than half of what these Americans have built in their lives will be sold off: assets, land, and livestock - lock, stock and barrel - to pay the bill.

Ten years ago, we thought we had this problem solved.  Then, the estate tax was singled out as an over-the-top hardship for bereft families, for children hoping to take over the family business and keep it going another generation.  We passed a bill that gradually reduced the estate tax, which had never been indexed for inflation relative to the size of the estates it hit.  In the tenth year of reform, the estate tax would be eliminated completely.  That year was 2010, and that goal has been accomplished.

The rules of congressional process don't allow the tax relief to remain in force for longer than ten years, however, so no permanent fix to the estate tax problem was possible.  This brings us to present day, when we must once again slay the tax that forces an untimely end to too many dreams of following in the footsteps of our fathers and mothers.

In the final days of this Congress, I'm working to bring estate tax repeal to the forefront of the tax debate.  But if repeal is not accomplished, there must be compromise to start the process - to at least exempt as many self-made Americans from suffering under this tax as we can.  As advocates for repeal of the estate tax were known for saying ten years ago, the only two certainties in life are death and taxes, but there is no reason Americans should have to experience both of them at once.

If the estate tax is allowed to snap back to a 55 percent rate on January 1, 2011, it will be one of the biggest tax increases in history on American families, and it will all happen in the blink of an eye."

Contact Info

Offices

Washington DC Office
2230 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4404
Cape Girardeau Office

2502 Tanner Drive, Suite 205
Cape Girardeau, MO 63703
Tel: (573) 335-0101

Farmington Office
22 East Columbia
Farmington, MO 63640
Tel: (573) 756-9755
Rolla Office
1301 Kingshighway
Rolla, MO 65401
Tel: (573) 364-2455
West Plains Office

35 Court Square Suite 300
West Plains, MO 65775
Tel: (417) 255-1515

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