Simpson and Otter Back New Effort to Permanently Repeal Death Tax

Simpson and Otter Back New Effort to Permanently Repeal Death Tax

Washington, D.C. - After seeing previous efforts rejected by Senate Democrats for whom fairness means taxing everyone equally into poverty, Idaho Congressmen Mike Simpson and C.L. "Butch" Otter once again cosponsored legislation this week to permanently eliminate the death tax.

The House approved a similar bill, H.R. 8, on a 264-163 vote during the 108th Congress, only to see it go nowhere in the Senate. The new measure, reintroduced for the 109th Congress, is H.R. 64. It already had 60 cosponsors by Wednesday.

The new bill again seeks to lift the 2010 sunset on legislation that Congress passed during President Bush's first year in office to phase out the death tax, which carries a maximum rate of 55 percent and a unified credit exemption of only $1 million.

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 phased out the death tax and eliminated it completely in 2010. However, the tax will be reimposed in 2011 under a Senate rule unless Congress acts to make the repeal permanent.

"By any definition, the death tax is one of our nation's most unfair taxes and an impediment to economic growth. Not only does it amount to double taxation, it discourages new investment and contradicts the values and ideals upon which our nation was founded," Congressman Simpson said. "No family should have to meet the undertaker and the IRS on the same day. I am hopeful this legislation, when passed into law, will help provide some certainty for those who have invested, or are looking to invest, in a small business, ranch or farm and want to plan for their family's future."

"Opponents of permanent repeal argue that it's a matter of fairness to impose a punitive tax on those who have earned and saved and invested over the course of a lifetime," Congressman Otter said. "The government needs the revenue, they contend. And after all, why should survivors be entitled to what their hardworking, thrifty and wise relatives managed to withhold from the government's clutches the first time around? What those naysayers want you to ignore is that this money has already been taxed. Double taxation is onerous and unfair under any circumstances, and especially when a family is grieving a loved one's loss. This bill is a piece of unfinished business that deserves to become the law of the land.

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/id02_simpson/deathtax_repeal.html