Help Us Bury the Death Tax Once and for All!

In 2001, NTU worked with President Bush and Congress to cut taxes for all Americans. One of the most important tax cuts passed at that time was elimination of the death tax. Unfortunately, due to opposition by a handful of Senators and rules that effectively prohibit permanent changes to our nation's tax laws with fewer than 60 votes, the death tax will only be completely repealed during the year 2010. After 2010, if Congress fails to act, hard-working Americans will once again be forced to pay tax rates of up to 50 percent on family businesses and all other assets at death. The Senate plans to vote soon on making the current one-year repeal permanent, but lawmakers first need to take a series of parliamentary steps to get to this point. Make sure your Senator knows you support getting rid of the death tax for good, AND clearing away the legislative roadblocks that are keeping us from reaching our goal.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Help Us Bury the Death Tax Once and for All!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I urge you to support efforts currently underway to permanently repeal the death tax. Small businesses and family-owned farms have been forced to live under this menace for too long, and taxpayers like me expect the Senate to have an up-or-down vote to get rid of the death tax for good.

When you bring the death tax to a vote, I ask you to support full and permanent repeal and to oppose any half-baked compromise that would keep the tax in place. Because it taxes virtue - living frugally and accumulating wealth - the tax wastes the talent of able people, including those who enforce it and those who must find ways to legally escape it.

The death tax is one of the most unjustifiable federal taxes, since it punishes the hard work and savings of parents who want to leave behind a better life for their children. The main effect of this unjust tax is to create an industry for thousands of lawyers and estate planners who help the super-wealthy spend time and money avoiding it.

I'm counting on your vote to end the harmful death tax once and for all.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
June 06, 2006


Background Information

After the House of Representatives voted 272-162 to permanently kill the death tax last year, the Senate is poised to take up consideration of the issue. Because of long-standing parliamentary rules, the Senate must first secure the votes of 60 Senators in a separate vote before they can proceed on to a vote for "final passage" of death tax repeal. Since President Bush has committed to signing death tax repeal into law if passed by Congress, securing another victory for taxpayers is within our grasp.

According to a study cited by Congress' Joint Economic Committee, getting rid of the death tax outright would, within seven years, create 240,000 jobs and increase the Gross Domestic Product by more than $33 billion. This much-needed rise in economic activity would generate income and other tax revenues that could offset any "losses" to the government. To further underscore this point, a recent analysis published by the American Family Business Institute found that repealing the death tax would have no effect on the budget deficit. There is simply no good economic reason for allowing the death tax to rise from the grave in four and a half years from today.

It's easy to see why businesses are forced to pursue costly death tax avoidance strategies now because owners can't possibly know what their estates will be worth when they die 10 or 20 years in the future. If, for example, the Senate refuses outright repeal and merely boosts the death tax exemption to $2 million - or $5 million, or $10 million -  businesses will still need to spend precious resources on tax planning to be sure they stay on the "right side" of that exemption. Only ending the tax completely will likewise end this uncertainty. As a result, businesses will have more resources to expand and can survive intact for future owners to build on too.

Paradoxically, this may also explain why a small group of the super-rich, including Warren Buffett and George Soros, support a new life for the death tax. IRS data confirms that the effective tax rate actually drops on estates of more than $20 million, in part because the mega-wealthy can devote more resources to avoiding the system. To these cloistered billionaires, the death tax conveniently keeps up-and-comers out of their boardrooms and their country clubs.