Time to Put the Death Tax to Rest

Benjamin Franklin once wrote that nothing "can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." In 1916, an enterprising politician decided to combine the two certainties into a tax on inheritors of a dead person's estate. This "death tax" has to be paid even though the deceased person paid taxes while alive on his assets. The death tax was originally created to help pay the costs of World War I, a conflict that ended in 1918. Today, a family-owned business can lose up to 55 percent of its assets when it passes from one generation to the next. Because of this tax, according to deathtax.com, 70 percent of families choose to cash out or abandon their business after just one generation.

This week, Congress is making its annual attempt to permanently kill the death tax. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is planning to offer a deceptive amendment that would help very few, if any, businesses and ultimately gut the effort to completely eliminate the death tax. True tax reform, including eliminating the death tax, involves helping taxpayers - not creating more work for tax accountants. Please tell your senator to reject Sen. Schumer's hollow "compromise" and make sure the death tax expires.

Posted in: