01/30/2008
SB 165, Maryland Estate Tax -- Exclusion for Family Farm or Family-Owned Business
SB 175, Maryland Estate Tax -- Exclusion for Family Farm Subject to Agricultural Preservation Easements
The death tax, or estate tax, affects all Americans, especially small business owners and farmers. NFIB supports full repeal of the death tax at the federal level, and we support legislation pending before the Maryland General Assembly and other efforts that would eliminate the tax and protect small-business owners, farmers and their families during the unfortunate time of death.
The death tax is unfair. The estate passed on from parents to their children did not just happen overnight. Someone worked a lifetime to earn money and build a business. During that lifetime the government collected income tax and other taxes. The government has taken its fair share and the estate tax should not be taxed upon the owner's death. For a small business, assets like a farm or storefront, a warehouse and some delivery trucks can quickly add up to millions of dollars locked up in a family owned-business that turns only a middle-class profit.
The death tax can deal a deathblow to a small business. This tax does not just affect the owners of the small business, but also the employees and the community in which the business operates as well.
This is an important issue to every business owner and farmer across this state. It is at the forefront of their minds. Please move favorably on measures that would ensure that small-business owners can continue to pass their life dream from one generation to another.
