Political Quotes

“last June, I had the privilege of attending the ceremony at which President Bush signed last year's historic tax cuts into law. This was quite an event, because it marked the enactment of the largest tax relief package in the last two decades. It was also an accomplishment because it reversed the backwards way that Washington often views tax dollars as belonging to federal government bureaucrats, not to working family farmers and small business people. This backwards view is particularly stressful to families when a family member has passed away. When someone who has paid taxes all of his life passes away, the death tax will still force surviving family members to pay up to 50 percent on the value of property of the deceased for tax year 2002. Fifty percent, even though the deceased spent a lifetime paying taxes on that very property. This is double taxation. With this high rate of taxation, families can be forced from their houses, off of their farms, and out of their businesses. Thanks to last year's tax cut, the death tax will be gradually phased out by tax year 2010. However, because of a procedural rule in the other body, the death tax will come back to life in tax year 2011. To keep the death tax in the grave where it belongs, I am pleased to serve as an original cosponsor of H.R. 2143, the Permanent Death Tax Repeal Act, sponsored by Rep. Dave Weldon of Florida, and urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.”