In an open letter to members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction ("Super Committee" for short) dated November 17, 2011, various trade associations, government and tax reform groups and business owners have banded together to ask the Committee to forgo any "estate or gift tax increases (whether through lowering exemptions or increasing rates) ... as you deliberate measures to reduce the deficit."
The letter points out that the drastic changes made to the estate and gift tax laws over the past three years have "added to the already uncertain and volatile economic environment" and made planning for the future virtually impossible for America's small business owners. Increasing estate and/or gift taxes will force business owners to rework their financial and estate plans, thereby "diverting precious time and capital into compliance and away from investing back in their businesses and workers." The letter concludes: "We urge you to seek ways to reduce or eliminate estate and gift taxes, and to reject measures that will further burden family businesses and farms, when considering how to reduce the nation's deficit."
List of organizations and businesses that signed the letter:
- American Family Business Institute
- Association for Manufacturing Technology
- Hardwood Federation
- Tire Industry Association
- Service Station Dealers of America
- 60 Plus Association
- Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America
- National Black Chamber of Commerce
- Americans for Tax Reform
- Eagle Forum
- Hispanic Leadership Fund
- NUCA, Representing Utility and Excavation Contractors
- Less Government
- Heating, Airconditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International
- Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation
- National Tax Limitation Committee
- Concerned Women for America
- Associated Wire Rope Fabricators
- Association of Equipment Manufacturers
- Forest Landowners Association
- National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association
- National Taxpayer Union
- Americans for Prosperity
- American Values
- Log Cabin Republicans
- Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs, Competitive Enterprise Institute
- Americans for Limited Government
- Fisher Broyles
- Excelsior Graphics, Inc.
Ironically the letter coincides with the introduction of H.R. 3467, the Sensible Estate Tax Act of 2011, a bill which is designed to revert the estate and gift tax laws back to those that were in effect in 2001/2002, with only a few minor tweaks and the closing of some major loopholes. And so the estate tax tug-of-war continues.
Read a copy of the letter: Dear Member of the Joint Select Committee