Drew Hiatt, Vice President for Federal Government Affairs, joins Members of Congress and other national leaders in denouncing the death tax as unfair to seniors and damaging to family-owned businesses and farms. In addition, John Westberg, a member of The Seniors Coalition from Illinois, will describe how the death tax could destroy his family business. Mary M. Martin, chairman of the board and executive director of The Seniors Coalition, has repeatedly issued calls for the abolition of the tax, which has a particularly strong impact on small business owners.
Death taxes are also inefficient.
Businessman and TSC member John Westberg has flown to Washington specifically for this conference in an effort to persuade legislators to eliminate the death tax. Mr. Westberg is exactly the type of businessman hardest hit by the death tax. The value of a business is included in a deceased owner's estate and taxed at a rate as high as 55 percent. As a result, this tax can destroy businesses by forcing heirs to sell the business or farm, buildings, land, or equipment to pay the tax bill and the lawyers.