A new study by the American Family Business Foundation indicates that as many as 1.5-million additional jobs could be lost if Congress allows the Federal Estate Tax to return next year. Under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, the estate tax expired at the end of 2009 but will return in 2011 at a rate of 55 percent on all assets over one-million dollars.
The report’s author, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, points out – with fears of a double dip recession on the horizon, the last thing America needs is for Congress to threaten family-owned businesses with a huge tax increase, an increase that could put more jobs on the chopping block.
The study concludes that if the estate tax were reinstituted at a 65 percent rate, more than 1.6-million jobs would be lost. If Congress takes no action and the estate tax returns to the pre-EGTRRA rate of 55 percent, between 1.4-million and 1.5-million jobs would be lost
Russell Nemetz spoke recently with accountant Curt Barnekoff with Galusha, Higgins and Galusha about the estate tax and its uncertainties.
© Northern Ag Network 2010
Russell Nemetz & Haylie Shipp
