Most Americans Will Be Glad To See The Back Of Death Tax

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

01 September 2003

Two recent opinion polls have somewhat predictably found that the vast majority of Americans would like to see estate tax, otherwise known as death tax or inheritance tax, permanently banished from the statute book.

The good news is that the House of Representatives are in tune with the ground swell of public opinion on the issue when they voted to repeal the most extreme and punitive form of income tax last month.

The estate tax in undoubtedly responsible for destroying many a family business and some claim that the 49% levy is a major contributor to the shocking statistic that 70% of family owned businesses fail to make it past the second generation whilst some 80% fold by the third generation, according to some estimates. A Joint Economic Committee study would appear to concur stating recently that "the estate tax is a leading cause of dissolution for thousands of family-run businesses, diverting resources available for investment and employment."

However, opponents of estate tax must now wait on tenterhooks for the Senate to follow suit when they vote on the new legislation this fall.

The surveys, conducted by the conservative leaning Luntz Research Companies, and the Global Strategy Group Inc which works with the Democratic National Committee, would appear to suggest that estate tax is universally despised across all income levels and political divides, not just amongst the wealthy. For instance, Frank Luntz, president of Luntz Companies, found that 65% of taxpayers who earned less than $30,000 per year considered the estate tax unfair.

"No matter what you call it -- estate, inheritance or death tax -- the American people find it unfair and want it eliminated. People of all kinds, all across the country, dislike the inheritance tax, and that includes Democrats and low-income families," said Mr Luntz, adding: "In more than a decade of polling, I have never seen such hostility toward any other tax."

Overall, the survey, which conducted telephone interviews with 2,506 Americans, found an overwhelming 79% of those polled believed that inheritance tax was unfair when asked to consider the level that tax is levied at, and the fact that it often represents double or triple taxation.

Under a previous proposal, death tax was to be repealed temporaritly until 2010 when it would be phased in once more at a rate of 55% and with a unified credit exemption of $1 million. However, the new legislation, known as the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act, will get rid of this burden for American families on a permanent basis.

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