W. Todd Akin: “Right. I think what Congressman Thompson said earlier about it being permanent, that would add a tremendous amount of…”

“Right. I think what Congressman Thompson said earlier about it being permanent, that would add a tremendous amount of stability to what's going on, particularly if you're trying to think about doing estate planning and things like that and it's zero this year and 55 next year--unless it gets changed to 35 and there is this exemption. But how in the world does anybody plan what's going on and how in the world can a small business survive? You know, if you've got a multitrillion-dollar business and armies of accountants and people like that, you've got the flexibility that if the tax rules change, you move your business overseas. You don't want to create jobs in America, fine. We'll create jobs overseas. You show us the rules, we'll play the game. Big business can do that. But those small businesses that have most of the jobs in America don't have that flexibility. And when we hammer them with a 55 percent death tax--which is what's fixing to happen, as they would say in Missouri, on January 1, that's pretty tough. You could picture a farm and, as you said, what are you going to do? Are you going to sell the fields? Are you going to sell the tractors and the equipment? Are you going to sell the sheds? What are you going to do? You inherit the farm from your dad, you've worked it, he's worked it all his life, you've got the homestead there.…”