Sylvester Turner: “I come from a district where the average household income is just over $21,000. We know that less than 2 percent of all…”

“I come from a district where the average household income is just over $21,000. We know that less than 2 percent of all American families ever owe an estate tax. I can say that in the second district of Texas, it is less than that. H.R. 8 targets the richest 2 percent of the families in the country and if it were to pass, it would amount to a $2 billion to $3 billion tax break just for the 400 richest Americans. It would cost over $50 million a year when fully phased in. Mr. Speaker, I say it is simply not right to give the very richest billionaires a $50 billion tax break while everyone else is left to figure out how to pay off the national debt and how to save Social Security. As the chart I have to my right indicates, the Democratic substitute gives even more relief to the smaller estates. In fact, the Democratic alternative gives the greatest tax relief to the smallest estates at a fraction of the cost to the Treasury. Look here, a $2 million estate of the husband who dies and the family worth $4 million, under House Bill 8, that family owes $229,800 in estate taxes; under the Democratic substitute, there is no estate tax due. That is if we have a family farm or small business. If we do not happen to be a family farmer or have a small business, we still get more relief under the first 5 years under the Democratic plan than under H.R. 8. Mr. Speaker, I say this is the best plan.”