NFIB: House Inheritance Tax Bill a Win for Small B
Washington, DC, June 23, 2006--The National Federation of Independent Business hailed a compromise death-tax reform bill scheduled to be voted on today by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Generally, supporters of repeal refer to this as the 'death tax;" those who favor some limits on inheritance typically use the more common IRS term, 'estate tax.'
NFIB said it is pleased that H.R. 5638 will protect the vast majority of small businesses and family farms from the threat of the tax. NFIB strongly urged House members to support the compromise and has notified their offices that today's vote is a "key vote" for small-business owners, which will be used in voter scorecards during the fall elections.
"This is a great victory for American small-business owners," said Dan Danner, executive vice president of NFIB. "NFIB will continue to fight for full repeal of the death tax, but our members need guaranteed relief they can plan on right now. This is a good first step, and we strongly urge House members to support this beneficial compromise. The bill will create a reasonable exemption for small businesses by allowing spouses to pass their unused exemption amount to their surviving spouse. And critically important, the bill indexes this exemption for inflation, ensuring that the benefits of this legislation remain relevant to future generations."
"NFIB will leave no stone unturned to help pass this vital, pro–small-business legislation, and we plan to do everything we can to get this measure signed into law," continued Danner. "House members have been informed that this will be a 'key vote' for election time, and small-business voters will be made well aware of how members of the House and the Senate stood on this issue."
"Small business strongly supports this bill as an important move towards eventual elimination of the death tax," said Danner. "While NFIB and the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition have worked for many years to completely remove this continuing threat to the lifetime work of many families, this compromise goes a long way toward giving small-business owners the relief and consistency they need. With small-business owners nationwide paying thousands of dollars in legal and insurance fees to guard against this vulture's tax, and many others ultimately forced to pay the government and liquidate their business, the argument for this reform is very clear."
Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate garnered a bipartisan 57-vote majority for permanent death-tax repeal but not the 60 votes necessary to proceed under Senate rules; the House had already voted for full repeal. In 2001, Congress set the tax on a path to total repeal in 2010; however, the tax returns to its full 55 percent rate in 2011 if the law isn't made permanent.
In the 108th Congress, NFIB scored 13 key votes in the U.S. House, which were then each listed in its "How Congress Voted" booklet and made available to all 600,000 of its members in all 50 states. At the end of each Congress, elected officials who support NFIB's position on at least 70 percent of the group's key votes are given the organization's Guardian of Small Business Award.
