U.S. Rep. John Tanner joined with the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee today to announce the Committee will consider legislation that would repeal the estate tax over the next decade.

     The legislation will be considered by the House Ways and Means Committee next week, and is similar to H.R. 8, the Death Tax Elimination Act of 1999, introduced by Rep. Tanner and Rep. Jennifer Dunn (R-WA).

     "When the estate tax was enacted, the exemption in today's dollars was valued at $9 million," Tanner said. Today, the exemption is $675,000 and won't reach $1 million until 2006. Roughly 70 percent of small businesses and family farms don't survive to a second generation, and 87 percent won't survive to a third generation. That is wrong. In my view, there is a societal value in the generational transfer of small businesses and family farms which we seek to promote and protect. It should not be the policy of this nation to penalize such action.

     "Tim and Susan Luckey of Gibson County are two of the many reasons this is so important. They manage a farm that is currently owned by Tim's father Joe Luckey, Jr. The farm has been in their family for more than 100 years. The Luckey's have already paid estate taxes on the farm once after the death of Joe's father. Joe and his wife want to pass the 650-acre farm to Tim and Susan, the next generation of Luckeys, but they are concerned they won't be able to do that if they have to pay estate taxes on the farm again for this latest generational transfer."

     Tanner is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

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