Residual Forces

The Death tax is the fear of most family owned businesses. Your family works for decades to build a business. They fight tooth and nail against government regulation and taxation the whole way, and when there is a death, the benefactors end up having to sell the business in many cases just to pay off the Government.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R MN6) has a plan to deal with it, er ah, repeal it.

Woodbury, Minnesota, May 21 - Congresswoman Michele Bachmann joined her colleagues, Reps. Kenny Hulshof (R-MO) and Bud Cramer (D-AL), Thursday in introducing the bipartisan Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2007, legislation to permanently eliminate the death tax.

This is a tax that hits close to home for me. My family owns a business that will be hit very hard by the death tax should it come back. We’ve spent 45 years making our business into one of the best in its industry in this state, if not the country. My Mother and Father built it from scratch, and every one of us in the family has poured blood, sweat, and tears into it.

The death tax is imposed by the federal government on property left to heirs in a will, such as a family owned business or farm. Under current law, the tax is scheduled to decline every year until 2010, when it will temporarily disappear. But unless Congress acts to make that permanent, the death tax will return in 2011, subjecting the hard work of many family owned businesses to a tax rate as high as 55%.

“Dying shouldn’t be a taxable event,” said Bachmann. “The death tax hits people at the worst possible time. Just as they’re dealing with the passing of a loved one, they have to settle with the IRS.”

Should the Death tax come back, and my siblings and I be forced to pay the Federal Government 50%+ we’d have one option, SELL. Unlike the aim of the Death Tax, grabbing money from the fat cat rich, my family does not have the millions in the bank that some in Washington think.

Aside from the issue of fundamental fairness, there are a host of economic and tax policy reasons why Congress should act to permanently repeal the federal death tax. To name a few:

• The death tax is a job killer. One study estimates that between 175,000 and 250,000 potential jobs are lost each year as a result of the death tax.
• The death tax is inefficient. Small businesses and family farms must divert resources from productive uses to engage in financial planning designed solely to avoid punitive taxation. These resources would be better used growing our economy.
• The death tax discourages savings and investment. The threat of a large tax discourages continued investment in a family business or farm operation. Not only is this a perverse incentive, it punishes a lifetime of success.

Prominent organizations representing the interests of small business and family farms, such as the American Farm Bureau Federation, Associated Builders and Contractors, the National Association of Manufacturers, have endorsed the bill, and similar legislation passed the House during the last Congress with bipartisan support.

“By repealing the death tax, we would allow the economy to create even more jobs, which would make all of us better off,” said Bachmann. “This bill is an important step toward increasing fairness in the tax code and promoting economic security for Minnesota families, farmers and business owners.”

Let’s hope Congress can learn from the mistakes made in the creation and extention of the Death Tax over the years. It is a job killer. My family employs more people and pays better than almost any of our competitors in our industry. We strive on excellence, not the bottom line. It has been very good to us and our many residents over the years, and with Congresswoman Bachmann’s help, it will be for years to come.

If not, hundreds and hundreds of Minnesotans will see the place the have proudly called home be changed for the worse. And my brothers and sisters will see our parents’ dream and vision crumble under the iron fist of the Government.