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Last Updated: December 12, 2000

House Schedules Vote on Death Tax Repeal Legislation
Contact: Dale Moore   202-347-0228
May 11, 2000

The U.S. House has scheduled a vote in early June on legislation that calls for a phasing out the death tax. Repeal of death taxes is NCBA’s top tax priority.

HR 8, the Death Tax Elimination Act, would phase out estate taxes over a 10-year period. The upcoming vote is a positive step in the cattle industry’s continual quest to move Congress to address the unfair tax.

“It’s no secret that death taxes are a detriment to cattle producers and all small, family-owned businesses,” said Dale Moore, director of legislative affairs for NCBA. “The tax in many cases prevents ranchers from passing their family business, not to mention their heritage, down from one generation to the next.

“Even with careful estate planning, the taxes are often so costly that families are forced to sell off part of the business to pay this unfair and burdensome tax,” Moore said.

NCBA and other members of the Family Business Estate Coalition will hold a summit May 23 at the Washington, D.C., Democratic Club to garner support for death tax repeal. The vote underscores the growing support for a fairer tax code that doesn’t unduly penalize families.

NCBA continues efforts to pressure the House and Senate to move forward on death tax relief in other pending legislation such as the Senate Minimum Wage bill.

Statistics indicate the number of cattle operations has declined 20 percent since 1981. Many feel this trend is accelerated by the burden estate taxes pose on surviving family member and by families selling their family farming and ranching enterprises in anticipation of the death tax, Moore said.

“The death tax is not a redistribution of wealth,” Moore said. “It is a government seizure of family-owned and operated businesses. When family farms and ranches are sold to pay the death tax, these resources and land are often swallowed up by larger businesses.”

By splitting up and destroying viable farming and ranching operations, the death tax erodes the base of the rural economy and the foundation of an industry that represents 20 percent of the agricultural gross domestic product and annually generates more than $150 billion in economic activity.

Now is a good time to call your representatives and ask them to support HR 8.

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Public Policy Center
National Cattlemen's Beef Association
1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Suite 300
Washington DC 20004-1701
(p) 202-347-0228
(f) 202-638-0607