Today, the U.S. Tax Code is a mess. Various loopholes leak billions of dollars each year and are easy to exploit, while other provisions fall hardest on families and small businesses trying to make ends meet. This doesn’t support the long-term health of our economy. Instead of creating pathways for individuals to succeed, we are destroying opportunity.

One of the worst of these provisions is called the estate tax, better known as the death tax. That’s because this tax is levied on family-owned small businesses and farms upon the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next at the time of death. This tax was first instituted in 1916 to help pay for the massive cost of World War I and has long outlived its usefulness. It disproportionately affects capital-rich but cash-poor farms and small businesses, which are forced to sell off land and equipment to pay the tax collector who comes calling just when a loved one has passed. That’s wrong.

The death tax is double taxation. The government taxes income annually in life; this provision allows it to turn around and tax that income again. Believe it or not, the death tax doesn’t actually generate much tax revenue for the government, anyway. According to a study by the Tax Foundation, the death tax is estimated to raise less than 1 percent of annual federal revenue in 2015. But the impact of this tax is harsh, forcing some small businesses to close their doors or farms to be broken up and sold off.

The same study by the Tax Foundation estimates that repeal of the death tax would “gradually increase the U.S. capital stock by 2.2 percent, boost GDP, create 139,000 jobs, and eventually increase federal revenue.” And, a projected boost of $137 billion in new jobs and economic activity would more than pay for lost revenue by repealing the death tax. This is a no-brainer. That’s why I voted with my colleagues in Congress this month to kill the death tax once and for all. 

It’s said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We have a lot of hard decisions to make on improving our tax code as we begin to consider a comprehensive overhaul. But not every decision has to be so tough. Killing the death tax is just common-sense. I’ll keep fighting to make sure that full repeal of this provision becomes law.

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Congressman Charles W. Boustany Jr., M.D., a cardiovascular surgeon with more than 30 years of clinical experience, is serving his sixth term in Congress.  Boustany represents Louisiana’s Third Congressional District, covering South Louisiana.  In Congress, he has championed healthcare reform, international trade, tax reform, and sound energy policy focused on building a comprehensive vision providing solutions for all Americans. Boustany sits on the tax-writing House Ways & Means Committee, where he serves as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Human Resources. He lives with his wife, Bridget, in Lafayette, Louisiana.