[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 72 (Wednesday, June 5, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H3165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         DEATH TAX AND FARMERS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, in my district in Pennsylvania we have some 
of the most productive farmland in America. In fact, it is known as the 
``Garden Spot'' of America. Many of these farms have been in the same 
family for generations. A few of them date back to William Penn.
  But these farms are in trouble. Taxes on the land are simply too 
high. Part of the problem lies right here in Washington. The estate 
tax, what some of us like to call the ``death tax,'' takes as much as 
60 percent of the farm's value when it passes from one generation to 
the next. Many times families have to sell half of the farm just to pay 
the death tax. That is not right.
  Last year we voted to repeal the death tax; but unless we vote to get 
rid of it permanently, it will come back in 10 years.
  Let us vote to kill the death tax for good and help Pennsylvania's 
and America's family farmers and small businesses stay in business.

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