David Weldon: “I rise in support of making these tax cuts permanent. I just want to talk about the human factor in the death tax. I…”

“I rise in support of making these tax cuts permanent. I just want to talk about the human factor in the death tax. I have a constituent in my congressional district in Kissimmee, Florida. Actually, it is a couple. They owned a florist, Dennis and Nancy Sexton. Their uncle owned a florist in the same town, a much bigger floral operation. He passed away. He had 19 employees, and Dennis inherited that operation; and Dennis had to spend about $253,000 to deal with the death tax. The death tax was $160,000. The lawyer's fee and accountant fees were $60,000. He spent $4,000 on the appraisal of his uncle's floral operation, and he did not have that kind of money. So what did he do? He laid off people. He took people that had worked for his uncle for years, brought them in and said I have to lay you off. Others he said I have to cut your salary. He took out a loan. He had to forego repairs on the building. They actually went a summer in Florida in their office, with no air conditioning, just to save some money, and had fans in there. The other thing he had to do, he had traditionally given to the United Way, to various charities in the community, as a lot of businessmen do. A lot of these charities come to the local businesses and ask for a donation. He has had to totally cut all that off.”