NFIB/MA testifies about the burden this unfair tax puts on small business owners.
Good news for small business owners: Massachusetts lawmakers are considering an estate tax reform measure, which would raise the threshold at which someone becomes eligible to pay the estate tax.
While the federal estate tax’s exemption threshold is $5.49 million, Massachusetts’ is only $1 million. Under the measure filed by Rep. Shawn Dooley, that threshold would increase to $2.745 million as well as exclude the value of the primary residence from the estate calculation.
NFIB/MA State Director Chris Carlozzi testified during the Joint Committee on Revenue hearing for the legislation.
“The bills before committee members today recognize that the estate tax forces the families of deceased small business owners and farmers to make difficult and often rash business decisions,” Carlozzi said in a statement. “Due to the nature of nonliquid assets often left by those that have worked a lifetime to build a business, grieving relatives are further burdened by Massachusetts’ unfair tax policy.
“The need for estate tax reform is certainly long overdue, and the small business community strongly supports these proposals. The time has come for Massachusetts to join the nationwide effort to reform, phase out, or repeal this tax that is inherently inequitable for small business owners and farmers.”
The Boston Herald also quoted Carlozzi in their editorial in support of estate tax reform: “The elimination or reduction of the estate tax would result in retention of some high-tax payers and their estates in Massachusetts,” he said. “The retention of fewer than 200 estates and the collection of income and sales tax through the years from those individuals and their families in Massachusetts could pay for the elimination of the tax.”
