1999 Legislation
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HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 3 – Estate/gift tax, federal, repeal

HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 3

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Daily Data Tracking History



HJM003..............................................by REVENUE AND TAXATION
ESTATE/GIFT TAX - Stating findings of the Legislature and requesting that
Congress repeal the estate and gift tax, or increase the current exemption
substantially.

02/04    House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/05    Rpt prt - to Rev/Tax
02/18    Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
02/19    2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/26    3rd rdg - ADOPTED - 62-0-8
      AYES -- Alltus, Barraclough, Barrett, Bell, Bieter, Black, Bruneel,
      Callister, Campbell, Chase, Clark, Crow, Cuddy, Deal, Denney,
      Ellsworth, Field(13), Field(20), Gagner, Geddes, Gould, Hadley,
      Hammond, Hansen(23), Henbest, Hornbeck, Jaquet, Judd, Kempton,
      Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Limbaugh, Linford, Loertscher, Mader, Marley,
      McKague, Meyer, Montgomery, Mortensen, Moyle, Pischner, Pomeroy,
      Reynolds, Ridinger, Ringo, Robison, Sali, Schaefer, Sellman, Smith,
      Smylie, Stevenson, Stone, Taylor(Taylor), Tilman, Tippets, Watson,
      Williams, Wood, Zimmermann
      NAYS -- None
      Absent and excused -- Boe, Hansen(29), Jones, Kellogg, Stoicheff,
      Trail, Wheeler, Mr Speaker
    Floor Sponsor - Linford
    Title apvd - to Senate
03/01    Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Loc Gov
03/11    Rpt out - rec d/p - to 10th Ord
03/12    10th ord - ADOPTED - voice vote
    Title apvd - to House
03/15    To enrol
03/16    Rpt enrol - Sp signed - Pres signed
03/17    To Secretary of State

Bill Text


HJM003


                                                                        
 ||||              LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO             ||||
Fifty-fifth Legislature                 First Regular Session - 1999
                                                                        

                             IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                                HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL NO. 3

                            BY REVENUE AND TAXATION COMMITTEE

 1                                   A JOINT MEMORIAL
 2    TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED  STATES  IN  CONGRESS
 3        ASSEMBLED,  AND  TO THE CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION REPRESENTING THE STATE OF
 4        IDAHO IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

 5        We, your Memorialists, the House of Representatives and the Senate of  the
 6    State of Idaho assembled in the First Regular Session of the Fifty-fifth Idaho
 7    Legislature, do hereby respectfully represent that:

 8        WHEREAS,  the   estate and gift tax is the federal government's least sig-
 9    nificant revenue source contributing approximately 1.1% of total federal reve-
10    nue and in 1998 just 1.66% of adult deaths in the United States  are  expected
11    to result in taxable estates; and
12        WHEREAS,  a  rationale  for  the estate and gift tax is that only the very
13    wealthy pay it, but in 1995, 54% of all estate tax revenue came  from  estates
14    under  five  million  dollars  and  estate taxes that year fell for those with
15    estates over twenty million dollars; and
16        WHEREAS, the reason for the preceding is that careful estate planning  can
17    virtually  eliminate  the  tax,  however  many  estate planning techniques are
18    costly and require long lead-times to implement,  making  the  burden  of  the
19    estate tax often falling on those with recently acquired modest wealth such as
20    farmers and small businesses; and
21        WHEREAS,  the  tax can be devastating on small businesses and agricultural
22    operations and protecting these ventures from estate taxes can be  costly  and
23    drain  resources that could be better used by the owners to upgrade and expand
24    their operations; and
25        WHEREAS, the estate and gift tax may be  having  unintended  environmental
26    consequences  as America's nonindustrial private forest owners (who own 58% of
27    America's forest land) face the untimely  timber  harvest  and  disruption  of
28    established  forest  management programs because of the federal estate tax and
29    this is counterproductive to society's goals of sustainable forestry and envi-
30    ronmental quality and the tax may also  have  the  unintended  consequence  of
31    forcing a decedent's estate to subdivide or sell all or portions of the family
32    land,  that  otherwise  might  be managed in a sustainable manner, in order to
33    meet the estate tax obligation; and
34        WHEREAS, Canada, Australia and Israel have  repealed  their  estate  taxes
35    with  three policy reasons given that more people were becoming subject to the
36    tax, the relative tiny portion of revenue raised and arguments  by  economists
37    that the tax is counterproductive; and
38        WHEREAS,  the  inheritance  tax is applied to property and goods that have
39    already been taxed and some economists have indicated that the gross  domestic
40    product  over  the  next seven years would be $80 billion higher if the estate
41    and gift tax were repealed.
42        NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the First Regular Session
43    of the Fifty-fifth Idaho Legislature, the House  of  Representatives  and  the
44    Senate  concurring  therein, that we respectfully request that members of Con-


                                          2

 1    gress take a serious look at repealing the estate and gift tax or, at the very
 2    least, to increasing the exemption substantially.
 3        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the  House  of  Representa-
 4    tives  be, and she is hereby authorized and directed to forward a copy of this
 5    Memorial to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Repre-
 6    sentatives of Congress, and  the  congressional  delegation  representing  the
 7    State of Idaho in the Congress of the United States.

Statement of Purpose / Fiscal Impact


                       STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

                              RS08885
                                 
This memorial is to the members of Congress and the Idaho
Congressional Delegation to seriously consider repealing the
estate and gift tax or increase the exemption substantially.









                            FISCAL NOTE

None









CONTACT: Rep. Golden Linford
         332-1000
         
                                     STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/ FISCAL NOTE  Bill No.  HJM 3