Repealing The Death Tax

Statement

Nebraska has a long, proud tradition of family owned businesses. Walk down any street, in any town in our beautiful state, and you'll find them: the furniture store, the auto parts shop, the dry cleaner, the pharmacy. Like our family owned farms and ranches, each one of these businesses provides a valuable service to our people. Together, they make our communities stronger and more vibrant.

Building a family business is hard work. It demands passion, drive, and an unbounded willingness to work. It means long days and longer nights, the anxiety of meeting payroll, and the pressure of performing well. It is also profoundly satisfying. With that work comes the deep joy of a job well done, the dignity of honest labor, and the knowledge that the business can be passed down to one's children. More than a job, for these small business owners, their work is part of a legacy that reaches through time, generation to generation.

But because of our broken tax code, many family business owners cannot hand down to their children their life's work.

The reason? The federal estate tax, commonly called the "death tax."

To quote the Internal Revenue Service, "the estate tax is a tax on your right to transfer property at your death." Because of it, those family businesses with property valued above a set amount cannot hand down to their children the family legacy -- unless those children pay up.

That's right. Rising generations of small business owners, the backbone of America's economy, must pay Uncle Sam before they can take possession of something their family already owns.

The death tax hits these families hard. Their wealth is in their business and the equipment they use to run it. They are cash-poor and asset-rich, but the death tax turns their assets into liabilities. Many times, the children of these families want to follow the path of their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. But those who cannot pay the tax find themselves forced onto a different road.

Often, it takes them far from home.

The death tax harms our Nebraskan way of life. It hurts our economy. It is time for it to go.

In the Senate, I have cosponsored the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2017. Introduced by Senator John Thune of South Dakota, this bill would permanently repeal the federal estate tax.

Our bill would amend the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. It would also make permanent the maximum 35 percent gift tax rate and the lifetime gift tax exemption.

Repealing this tax is good policy. It's also the right thing to do.

Government, when at its best, unleashes the human spirit and rewards families for accepting a risk and working hard. It dignifies their labor. The death tax does just the opposite. Government at its worst, it punishes that spirit, seeking instead to take its cut of a lifetime of hard work, risk, and reward. It erodes that proud legacy shared across generations.

By repealing the death tax, we can help strengthen Nebraska's proud tradition of family businesses. I am hopeful that we will.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.

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