CRAPO CO-SPONSORS BILL TO MAKE TAX CUTS PERMANENT

Washington, DC â?? Idaho Senator Mike Crapo is co-sponsoring S. 420, the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act. This bill, introduced by Senators Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) and Bill Nelson (D-Florida), would make the repeal of the estate tax, sometimes referred to as the death tax, permanent. Congress and the President must act to prevent a sunset clause scheduled for 2011 from ending the tax cuts passed in 2001. Crapo said the estate tax unfairly singles out the economic engines that drive economic recovery such as small businesses and farmers. â??The estate tax may be the most unfair tax on the books,â?? said Crapo. â??This tax makes it cheaper for the owner of a small family business to sell it rather than pass it along to his or her children. Without Congressional action now, estate tax rates will immediately return to their pre-2001 levels in 2011, after a one-year full elimination in 2010. These farmers and business owners need certainty in the tax code now so they can make the proper planning decisions for their own future as well as their families' future.â?? Crapo noted that farm families are among the hardest hit. â??Ninety-four percent of all agricultural products sold come from family farms. Unfortunately, in the 1990s, twice the number of farm estates paid death taxes compared to other estates. Paying taxes as high as 47 percent seems to leave little incentive to pass the farm on to your children.â?? Crapo added the small businesses most affected by the estate tax create two-thirds of new jobs in the U.S. and comprise well over half the workforce. He pointed to studies predicting the elimination of the estate and gift taxes could create 275,000 new jobs by 2010. â??Our economy is improving, in part because of the tax reform package Congress passed in 2001. Now is the time to make permanent responsible tax reform that creates economic activity,â?? Crapo added. â??Ending this onerous tax is a good effort to move reform along. The estate tax has been around since 1916 and was never intended to create the consequences on jobs and family businesses it has.â?? As a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Crapo will be one of the first senators to vote on tax reform proposals, which are first proposed and debated in that committee. # # #