Now is the time for the industry to work out the details of how such a requirement might be used in a productive nonpolitical way to help improve the lives of many people and bring some new blood into the industry. In 1997, for the first time in over a decade, Congress acted to ease the burden of leadership transition for small, family-held firms. Family firms are a tradition in construction and contractors have welcomed the change in the estate tax law as a positive first step. Dan Biedenbender's experience is typical. He says that if his mother had died first, his family would have lost the business.
Estate taxes can take a toll on more than just the heirs.
And the toll is not just financial. But now they are being asked to relinquish some of their ownership and control to the next generation, not because their children are trying to ease them out, but just because of the estate tax laws, he says. They don' t want this. I don't want this. Men and women who have spent their lives building companies and futures for their children are being forced to jump through expensive and emotionally wrenching legal and accounting hoops to preserve their dreams or risk their dreams by doing nothing.