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WASHINGTON – With job creation and economic recovery at the top of Washington’s “to-do list,” U.S. Senator John Boozman today introduced the Death Tax Repeal Act, a bill that would permanently eliminate the federal estate and gift taxes that punish our small business owners and agriculture producers.

Permanent elimination of the death tax could create up to a million and a half new jobs at small businesses across the country, a recent study projected.

“Death shouldn’t be taxable. It should not force the sale of family farms or the closure of small businesses. Hardworking Americans should be allowed to pass along the results of their success, which they were already taxed on during their lifetime, to their families without having to pay the IRS. Farmers and small business owners deserve to pass along their investments to future generations without having to worry about a tax especially in this economic climate,Boozman said.

The death tax forces an unnecessary burden on America’s family farms and businesses following the death of a loved one. Congress resurrected the death tax in 2011 at a 35 percent rate through the end of 2012. Unless Congress acts before the end of the year, the tax will skyrocket to a 55 percent rate and $1 million exemption at the beginning of 2013.

“These hardworking Americans deserve to have this tax repealed once and for all. This will allow our agriculture producers and small businesses to invest and expand their operations rather than force them to spend that money hiring attorneys and accountants,” Boozman said.

According to a recent study by Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, repealing the death tax would create 1.5 million additional small business jobs and would decrease the national unemployment rate by nearly one percent.

Holtz-Eakin also claims that repeal of the death tax would do the following:

  • Increase small business investment capital by more than $1.6 trillion each year
  • Increase the probability of hiring by 8.6 percent
  • Increase payrolls 2.6 percent
  • Expand investment 3 percent
  • Drop the unemployment rate 0.9 percent