Permanent Estate Tax Relief For Families, Farmers, And Small Businesses Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, if it were up to me, this would not have been done the way it is playing out today. I believe that this issue should be taken up in the context of tax reform, which the Ways and Means Committee and the House should visit next year, but it is what it is.

But the most important reminder here today for all of us is this: This is not the House of Lords. This is not about peerage. This is not about, in America, being born to any class or any race that offers superiority. This is not permanent wealth. This is not the argument that because of your last name, you ought to be entitled to a special privilege in what is the most egalitarian society that the world has known.

But the truth is that the extension that we are offering today takes us down the path to reform, and that is where I hope we end up. We need the certainty as to estate tax rules come January 1. If we let the current rules expire, there will be estates that are harmed by a loss of step-up in basis. This pits the ultrarich--who, by the way, are the ones who seek repeal--against the moderately rich who we attempt to assist here in this step-up in basis.

But I want to quote Warren Buffett on the issue of estate tax. And, incidentally, he was cleverly left out by the other side as they ascribed responsibility for repeal of the estate tax. Warren Buffett said, ``Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise. Equality of opportunity has been on the decline. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy.''

This body is a reflection of meritocracy in American society. It is unlike other legislative institutions in other parts of the world. You get here largely on merit.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.

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