Thomas Daschle: “I today am introducing legislation that would take a small but significant step toward improving the productivity of…”

“I today am introducing legislation that would take a small but significant step toward improving the productivity of American businesses and workers. My bill would permit certain employee stock ownership plans [ESOP's] to be beneficiaries of charitable remainder trusts under estate tax law. We have all heard stories about closely held companies being sold and broken up in order to raise cash to pay a large estate tax bill to the Internal Revenue Service. Not infrequently, a company that has been built over a period of decades is dismantled, cutting adrift employees with years of service. My bill would provide a way for an owner of a nonpublicly traded company to benefit company employees without having the estate tax stand in the way. It would permit the owner under certain circumstances to donate his or her shares to the company's ESOP through the use of a charitable/ESOP remainder trust. If carried out in accordance with the restrictions set forth in the bill, the transfer would be eligible for an estate tax deduction. By being transferred to an ESOP, the stock would be allocated directly to company employees. The legislation includes a number of safeguards against abuse.”