HM 1599

1	House Memorial
2	A memorial to the Congress of the United States, urging
3	Congress to permanently abolish the estate tax.
4
5	WHEREAS, under tax relief legislation passed in 2001, the
6	estate tax was temporarily phased out but not permanently
7	eliminated, and
8	WHEREAS, farmers and other small business owners will face
9	losing their farms and businesses if the Federal Government
10	resumes the heavy taxation of citizens at death, and
11	WHEREAS, the estate tax is a tax that is particularly
12	damaging to families who are working their way up the economic
13	ladder and trying to accumulate wealth for the first time, and
14	WHEREAS, employees suffer layoffs when small and medium
15	sized businesses are liquidated to pay estate taxes, and
16	WHEREAS, if the estate tax had been repealed in 1996, the
17	United States economy would have realized billions of dollars
18	each year in extra output and an average of 145,000 additional
19	new jobs would have been created, and
20	WHEREAS, having repeatedly passed in the United States
21	House of Representatives and Senate, repeal of the estate tax
22	holds wide bipartisan support, NOW, THEREFORE,
23
24	Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
25
26	That the Legislature urges the United States Congress, with
27	the support of the Florida delegation, to vote and pass the
28	immediate and permanent repeal of the estate tax.
29	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
30	dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
31	President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
32	United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
33	the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.