Angie Craig: “Does the death tax really impact family-owned farms and businesses? The answer is an emphatic ``Yes!'' According to the…”

“Does the death tax really impact family-owned farms and businesses? The answer is an emphatic ``Yes!'' According to the book, ``The Millionaire Next Door,'' self-employed individuals are four times as likely to accumulate $1 million in assets over their lifetime than those people who work for someone else. Moreover, while self-employed individuals make up only 20 percent of the workforce, they comprise two-thirds of those Americans whose estates are worth more than $1 million. As a tax on accumulated wealth, the estate tax is a direct attack on these individuals. Meanwhile, the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy estimates that seven out of ten family-owned businesses fail to survive from one generation to the next. While this failure rate can be attributed to many factors, the federal estate tax is cited by family business owners as a major obstacle blocking a successful transition. For example, a report by the Family Enterprise Institute found that 60 percent of black business owners believe the estate tax makes the survival of their business significantly more difficult or impossible. Finally, the estate tax hampers the ability of family-owned businesses to compete against larger corporations.”