Jack Kingston: “Another part of that is not only passing the money on in our Nation from one generation to the next generation, but from…”

“Another part of that is not only passing the money on in our Nation from one generation to the next generation, but from family to family. The death taxes that rob so many of our families, our farmers, is a factor. I live in a growth area, and it is not unusual for me at all to see a widow who has bought the family property on Whitmarsh Island on the Intercoastal Waterway, bought it in the 1960s for $30,000, and after 20 years paid it off. Her husband is dead, she is on a fixed income, and now that property is worth $700,000, $800,000, maybe $1 million, but she is still on a fixed income and does not want to sell, does not want to move, and does not want to develop. Yet, our property taxes are pushing her out, and then our estate taxes are. If she wants to pass that on to the next generation, the next generation is going to incur a big tax on it. Here is a woman who is really independent, not on public assistance, who has money in the bank or an asset that if she needs emergency long-term care, if she has a catastrophe in her family, she has something. We are saying to her, you have to sell that cushion, because if you die your children are going to have to pay a whopping tax on it. We run off family farms because of that, and we make it impossible for small businesses to go from generation to generation. One of the things that is real important now is women own small businesses in unprecedented numbers.…”