[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 784 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 784

 To repeal the Federal estate and gift taxes and the tax on generation-
                          skipping transfers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 1, 1995

 Mr. Cox (for himself, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Armey, Mr. Baker of Louisiana, 
    Mr. Bilbray, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Canady of Florida, Mr. 
   Chrysler, Mr. Cramer, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Dornan, Mr. Dreier, Mr. 
   Herger, Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. King, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Moorhead, Mr. 
Parker, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Sensenbrenner, and Mr. Solomon) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and 
                                 Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To repeal the Federal estate and gift taxes and the tax on generation-
                          skipping transfers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Family Heritage Preservation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that:
            (1) Hard working American men and women spend a lifetime 
        saving to provide for their children and grandchildren, paying 
        taxes all the while. Throughout their lives, they pay taxes on 
        the income and gains from their labor and their investment. 
        Because of the heavy burden of income taxes, property taxes, 
        and other levies, it is enormously difficult to accumulate 
        savings for a family's future. Worst of all, when the purpose 
        of that hard earned saving is about to be achieved, families 
        discover that between 37 percent and 55 percent of their after-
        tax savings is confiscated by Federal inheritance taxes.
            (2) These transfer, estate, and gift taxes punish lifelong 
        habits of thrift; they discourage entrepreneurship; they 
        penalize families; and they have a negative effect on other tax 
        revenue sources.
            (3) These taxes raise almost no material revenue for the 
        Federal Government. In fiscal year 1994, they produced only 1 
        percent of total Federal revenues.
            (4) The waste and economic inefficiency caused by 
        inheritance taxes is well known. American families employ 
        legions of tax accountants and lawyers each year to set up 
        trusts and other prolix devices designed to avoid these onerous 
        levies. The make-work imposed upon the economy comprises 
        billions of dollars.
            (5) In order to pay these excessive taxes, many small 
        businesses must liquidate all or part of their assets. By 
        causing business closures, these taxes constrict business 
        activity, increase unemployment, and reduce tax revenues to the 
        Federal Government.
            (6) Independent analyses indicate that, were these onerous 
        taxes repealed, the Nation's GDP, Federal and State tax 
        revenues, employment base, and capital formation would increase 
        substantially. According to one such survey, repealing these 
        taxes would increase GDP by $79,220,000,000, create 228,000 new 
        jobs, and increase savings by $630,000,000,000 by the end of 
        the century.
            (7) Repealing these taxes will ensure economic fairness for 
        all American families and businesses, as well as economic 
        growth and prosperity for the Nation as a whole.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF FEDERAL TRANSFER TAXES.

    (a) General Rule.--Subtitle B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
is hereby repealed.
    (b) Effective Date.--The repeal made by subsection (a) shall apply 
to the estates of decedents dying, and gifts and generation-skipping 
transfers made, after the date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>