WANADA signs onto estate tax repeal letter to Congress

WANADA signs onto estate tax repeal letter to Congress

WANADA has joined 125 signers of a letter to U.S. Congressional leadership urging them to make permanent repeal of the estate tax part of comprehensive tax reform. The Family Business Coalition will send the letter to Capitol Hill this week as Congress comes back to town after its August recess.

–Repealing the death tax would spur job creation and grow the economy,” the letter reads. It cites a 2016 Tax Foundation analysis that found repeal of the death tax would increase federal income taxes by $145 billion over 10 years. It also notes that –the death tax forces family businesses to waste money on expensive insurance policies and estate planning.”

The letter cites polls finding that two-thirds of likely voters support permanent repeal of the estate tax. The tax accounts for just one-half of one percent of federal revenue.

But tax reform is going to be a heavy lift for Congress, with all the other must-pass measures on its agenda in the remaining time before the end of the year. It will be especially hard to pass a bill with substantial tax cuts that does not make cuts in other federal programs to make up for lost revenue. Factor in a multibillion-dollar cleanup bill for post-hurricane Houston relief, and tax reform becomes very difficult politically, especially with some of the vocal fiscal hawks in Congress.