PERLMUTTER VOTES TO PERMENANTLY EXTEND ESTATE TAX RELIEF

December 3, 2009

Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) voted to permanently extend estate tax relief to ensure small farms, businesses and families are not burdened from an unfair tax policy.

This will avoid a 10% tax increase and a lowered tax threshold of $1 million in 2011.

The Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act (H.R 4154) will maintain the current estate tax exemption at $3.5 million ($7 million for couples) and a maximum rate of 45%.

“This legislation will ensure family farms, small businesses and families throughout the 7th District, Colorado and the nation are not burdened by an unfair tax policy,” Perlmutter said. “Instead this solution will protect them as they continue to weather the current economic crisis. Americans deserve a consistent tax policy rewarding hard work, and this bill does that.”

Listed below are several provisions which benefit small businesses and farmers and are key to job creation and economic growth.

o Provides tax critical certainty and stability for farmers and small businesses as they face the enormous challenges of the economic crisis, as well as peace of mind at the difficult time of a loved one’s death.

o The $7 million exemption for couples will help many farmers, as the average farm household net worth ranged from $586,000 for small farms to $2.2 million for very large farms in 2008. [USDA, Economic Research Service]

Attached to H.R. 4154 is the Statutory PAYGO Act which will maintain the “pay as you go” principle and ensure the budget discipline that turned record deficits into surplus in the 1990s. PAYGO requires Congress to find a way to pay for any new spending, outside of an economic crisis. The Statutory PAYGO Act would make that principle law. The Statutory PAYGO Act would apply this principle to all new tax and spending policies, and would allow Congress to exclude the impact of continuing policies currently in place, including the estate tax.