00                         HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 7                                                                         
01 Requesting the United States Congress to permanently repeal the federal unified gift                                    
02 and estate tax.                                                                                                         
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:                                                                         
04       WHEREAS the federal unified gift and estate tax generates a minimal amount of                                   
05 federal revenue, especially considering the high cost of collection and compliance; and                                 
06       WHEREAS this "death tax" has been identified as destructive to job opportunity and                              
07 expansion, especially to small businesses and minority entrepreneurs; and                                               
08       WHEREAS this "death tax" causes severe hardship to growing family businesses,                                   
09 often to the point of partial or complete forced liquidation, thereby depriving state and local                         
10 governments of an important ongoing source of revenue; and                                                              
11       WHEREAS our form of government is premised on the right to enjoy the fruit of                                   
12 one's labor, to own one's own possessions, and to pass on one's bounty to one's heirs; and                              
13       WHEREAS, when a person works for a lifetime to build assets, saving and investing                             
14 money, building a business, or buying and developing real property, that person has a moral                             
15 right to pass those assets on to the person's family without being penalized with inheritance                           
16 taxes; and                                                                                                              

01       WHEREAS there is a fundamental problem of double taxation when a decedent's                                     
02 survivors are forced to pay an inheritance tax on assets acquired by the descendent with after-                         
03 tax dollars; and                                                                                                        
04       WHEREAS we need a tax system that encourages lifelong saving, investment, and                                   
05 business activity, and not one that can result in heirs liquidating or selling the family                               
06 businesses that are often asset-rich but cash-poor, thereby destroying those ongoing job-                               
07 producing businesses simply to fund increased government consumption; and                                               
08       WHEREAS critical state and local leadership assets are unnecessarily destroyed and                              
09 forever lost to the future detriment of the community through relocation or liquidation; and                            
10       WHEREAS local and state schools, churches, and numerous charitable activities                                   
11 would greatly benefit from increased employment and continued family business leadership;                               
12 and                                                                                                                     
13       WHEREAS a majority of Americans consistently finds the "death tax" to be the most                               
14 unfair of all taxes and therefore favors total repeal of the tax; and                                                   
15       WHEREAS the "death tax" is scheduled to be completely phased out in 2010, only to                               
16 revert back to a confiscatory 55 percent rate in 2011;                                                                  
17       WHEREAS the persistent uncertainty created by sec. 901 of the Economic Growth                                   
18 and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, which provides for the reinstatement of federal                              
19 estate tax law for decedents dying after December 31, 2010, prevents families and small                                 
20 businesses from fully benefitting from the temporary repeal;                                                            
21       BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives respectfully requests the                                      
22 United States Congress to permanently repeal the federal unified gift and estate tax effective                          
23 immediately.                                                                                                            
24       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
25 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
26 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of                                  
27 Representatives; the Honorable Timothy F. Geithner, United States Secretary of the Treasury;                            
28 the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the                                      
29 Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress;                                 
30 and all other members of the 111th United States Congress.