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PRESS RELEASE FROM AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM
Contact: John Kartch ( jkartch@atr.org or 202-785-0266)

11/07/02

Taxpayer Agenda is Moving After Election:
Rep. Chris Cox Proposes a New Death for Death Tax
California Republican re-introduces bill to eliminate Death Tax, as a more friendly Senate waits.

WASHINGTON - Two days have passed since Republicans regained control of Congress. And some representatives are itching to pass legislation that was stalled or defeated by the Democrat-controlled United States Senate over the past two years.

House Policy Chairman Christopher Cox (R-CA) announced today that he would re-introduce H.R. 330, his 107th Congress bill to repeal the federal Death Tax, with a new effective date to eliminate the unfair phase-out.

Due to an obscure Senate rule invoked in the tax relief legislation of 2001, the entire tax plan will expire on 1 January 2011, unless it is made permanent before then. If not made permanent, marginal tax rates will jump back to 2000 levels, while the once-eliminated death tax and marriage penalty will be reinstated, adoption credit and holocaust exemption eliminated, and the previously doubled child credit will return to $500 from $1,000 per child. Cox's legislation would permanently repeal the Death Tax.

"We're only on our second morning after the election, and the wheels of Congress are already starting to move," said taxpayer advocate Grover Norquist, who heads Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in Washington. "Permanent repeal of the Death Tax languished in the Senate under Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), but Rep. Cox has jumpstarted the taxpayer agenda with this legislation."

The Death Tax is one of the least popular taxes in America, with over 70 percent of the American people consistently voicing their disapproval in public opinion polls. It is the leading cause of the termination of successful small businesses in America; one out of four small businesses will have to go out of business to pay the tax, unless it is permanently repealed before 2011. The Republican-controlled U.S. House passed legislation to make permanent all of the tax cuts passed in 2001, and later specifically the Death Tax. But former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said he would "never bring up the permanent tax cut the president is advocating," then begrudgingly allowed a vote, which narrowly failed.

"Taxpayers across America can breath a little easier now," continued Norquist, "because with a friendly House of Representatives and Senate, we will pass tax relief each and every year from here on out."

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Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose any and all federal and state tax increases.  For more information, or to arrange an interview with Mr. Norquist please contact John Kartch at (202)785-0266 or by email at jkartch@atr.org.