Political Quotes

“the death tax falls most heavily on small businesses because they are asset rich but cash poor. This bill allows small businesses to be passed from one generation to the next without having to sell assets to pay the punitive tax. This bill is not about Bill Gates. It is not about Warren Buffett. If they have problems with repealing the death tax, let them write a check to the government. This bill is about the Beuth family of Winnebago, Illinois, and the Hall family of Ogle County, Illinois, who live in my congressional district. Richard and Judy Beuth of Seward almost lost the family farm several years ago when Richard's father died and the IRS hit them with a $185,000 death tax bill. Factual, not philosophical, factual. Not Warren Buffett, not Bill Gates, but Richard and Judy Beuth of Seward, Illinois. Gary Hall and his four sisters of Lindenwood had to sell equipment, had to sell part of their land, and take out huge loans to pay a $2.7 million death tax bill they received shortly after their father died in 1996. Real live people, real live farmers, my constituents, forced to go out of business because of the capital-intensive farming operations that they have to make their living. This tax is immoral. It has devastated too many family farms and mom and pop businesses. These families worked hard all their lives to put food on the dinner tables, and this is about giving that family farm, that family business on to succeeding generations.”