Home Current News Berkley Votes to Provide Estate Tax Certainty
Berkley Votes to Provide Estate Tax Certainty
(December 3, 2009)  Congresswoman Shelley Berkley voted for legislation that provides certainty in estate tax planning for families and small businesses in southern Nevada and nationwide.  The Permanent Estate Tax Relief Act maintains the current estate tax exemption of $3.5 million per individual or $7 million for married couples. 

“While I cannot say this package is perfect, it provides certainty for estate planning at a time when we need every job created by the family businesses that are at the heart of this legislation,” said Berkley.

In remarks from the House prior to the vote, Berkley emphasized the importance of providing families with certainty when it comes to planning for the estate tax.  But the Congresswoman also spoke about her desire to see higher exemption levels and a lower overall estate tax rate than those included in the package approved by the House.

“Philosophically I don't think there should be an estate tax.  There are few things in this world that you can do to avoid paying taxes.  I think dying should be one of those things.  I introduced bipartisan legislation to alleviate the burden the estate tax creates for farms, businesses, and individuals.  The legislation would have responsibly phased-up the exemption to $5 million, $10 million for couples, and lowered the rate to 35% over the next 10 years to reduce the burden on those estates that still have an estate tax liability.

“Given the current economic situation, even one job lost to the estate tax is too much.  We need to encourage stability in every way possible.

“While the bill before us in my opinion is not a permanent solution, it is far better than a short-term patch.  It assures stability in the tax code and allows for estate planning.  I believe it will free up resources currently used to plan for the estate tax.  I will vote for this bill and I urge my colleagues to join me and do likewise.”

Berkley authored and introduced her own legislation, the bipartisan Estate Tax Relief Act (H.R. 3905). The legislation, which did not receive a vote today, would create a sensible, stable and permanent framework to help families and small businesses effectively plan for the future.  Supporters of the Berkley estate tax bill include both business and farm groups.

The Berkley Estate Tax Relief Act would gradually increase the current exemption from $3.5 million to $5 million by 2019, and indexes the exemption for inflation in future years.  Over the same time period, the estate tax rate is reduced from 45% to 35%.
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