Government Affairs

Newspaper Association of America's Views on Repealing the Federal Estate Tax

•    In 1910, there were 2,100 independently owned daily newspapers in the United States. This number dropped to 700 in 1980 and today stands at approximately 300. The burden of estate taxes is one of the largest challenges facing family-owned newspapers. Recently, the Chicago Defender, America's oldest and largest circulated African American-owned daily newspaper was recently forced into financial distress due to the death of the principal newspaper owner and the pending tax on his estate. Financial resources may not be available to keep the 93-year old newspaper in the hands of African American owners.

•   Repealing the estate tax is not only important to the newspaper industry it is a priority of our customers - newspaper advertisers - from the car dealership to the travel agency to the local real estate company.

•   The estate tax brings in less than 1.4 percent of total federal revenues, and it is estimated that enforcement of the tax costs the federal government 65 cents for every dollar it raises.

•   According to the Joint Economic Committee, in this century the estate tax has reduced the stock of capital in the economy by $497 billion, a 3.9 percent reduction (The Economics of the Estate Tax, December 19, 1998).

•   Family businesses could better use their resources to modernize equipment, expand operations and create new jobs, rather then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for lawyers, accountants and insurance to deal with the estate tax.

•   A person who works hard, pays taxes along the way - both corporate and income taxes - and invests and saves money should not be penalized with a punitive tax at his or her death. Through this onerous tax the federal government is sustaining a public policy that undermines the fundamental principles that our nation supports - hard work, savings and fairness.

•   Legislation has been introduced in the House (HR 8) and the Senate (S 38) that would gradually phase-out the death tax over an eleven-year period. Death should not be a taxable event. Congress should enact legislation this year that phases-out this onerous and unfair tax.