Neal Dunn: “Mr. Speaker, only in America are we confronted with a certificate at birth, a license at marriage, and a bill at death.…”

“Mr. Speaker, only in America are we confronted with a certificate at birth, a license at marriage, and a bill at death. I rise today in support of H.R. 8, the Death Tax Elimination Act. Americans spend most of their adult lives paying taxes in various forms. We have an opportunity today to do something good for American businesses and families by ending the practice of paying a tax that is triggered only by death. Why do we talk about repeal instead of about the exemption level that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) has suggested? The reason is that if you do not repeal this tax, it will grow back. This tax began in 1916. A Democrat President, Woodrow Wilson, started this tax. It was the fourth time in history this tax existed. Before, always for fewer than 8 years to fund a war and then it was phased out. This time, the government got its hand in the people's pocket and it never took it out. I will tell you one other thing, Mr. Speaker. From 1916 to now if you calculated today's dollars and the exemption level in 1916, you would come out at $9 million in 1916. So our substitute is very, very unfair to people who are trying to do the right thing by providing for their retirement. Critics of repeal often ask, why not just increase the exemption? The Democratic bill raises the exemption to $2 million. This is an arbitrary number. It rewards winners and losers arbitrarily.”