Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson is a cosponsor of H.R. 3905, the Estate Tax Relief Act of 2009. The legislation increases the estate tax exemption to $5 million per person and reduces the top rate to 35% in equal increments over ten years.

More than 98% of America’s two million farms and ranches are owned by family partnerships and family corporations. These family businesses produce about 86% of the U.S. agriculture products, and the estate tax threatens their livelihood.

“The estate tax hits farm families especially hard, and I have consistently supported efforts to permanently repeal or reduce the impact of this burdensome, unfair tax,” said Simpson. “Throughout their lives, people pay sales tax, property tax, and income tax on their assets. Paying Uncle Sam again should not be part of the grieving process.”

The death tax accounts for less than one percent of the federal budget, but almost one-third of business owners are forced to sell their businesses or liquidate a portion of their assets to pay death taxes.  Far from benefiting only the richest citizens, the repeal of the death tax assists people such as farmers, ranchers, small business owners, and grandparents who have worked their whole lives to pass something on to their children and grandchildren.

Congressman Simpson is also a cosponsor of H.R. 3524, the Family Farm Preservation and Conservation Estate Tax Act, which provides estate tax exclusion for farms and ranches as long as family farmland use continues.

H.R. 3905 is a bipartisan bill that enjoys sponsorship by Representatives Shelley Berkley (D-NV), Kevin Brady (R-TX), Artur Davis (D-AL), Devin Nunes (R-CA)