Martin (Marty) Whelan is President of Ettline Foods Corporations, a privately-owned distributor of foodservice products located in York Pennsylvania. Ettline was founded in 1889 by Oscar Ettline, and was at that time a general store whose customers were farmers and local people.

      Today, 109 years later, the company is a broadline food service distributor serving over 1,300 customers in three states. Ettline's customers are institutional foodservice users, and grocery and convenience stores.

      Over the years, Ettline has remained a family-owned and operated company. The Whelan family purchased the company eight years ago, following the retirement of Doyle Ankrum, and became the fourth family to own the business. When Marty purchased Ettline in 1989, the company employed 48 individuals. Today, Ettline employs 105 people.

      Marty and his family have reinvested all of their after-tax profits into facilities, equipment, and working capital. Additionally, Marty has chosen to limit his compensation in order to support the growth of the business. Over the past two years, he has invested approximately $4.5 million in additional capital and, as result of all of these efforts, has more than doubled the sales volume of the business and added more 20 full-time employees to the company's payroll.

      On the outside looking in, you would not think there was a problem. But there is. A 55% estate tax rate mandates constant planning for the managerial succession of Marty's business, as well as the financial security of his family after his death.

      What makes this threat all the more significant is that Marty suffers from a terminal illness.

      As a result, Marty must spend several thousand dollars each year to keep on retainer an estate tax lawyer and tax accountant, who assist in keeping him abreast of any changes in tax regulations, as well as reviewing changes in his company's assets.

      Marty strongly feels that the thousands of dollars spent each year for estate planning is a non-productive use of assets that could be used to continue to grow his business and create more jobs in York. Unfortunately for Marty and his family, this time-consuming and expensive process is necessary. Yet, Marty still worries that all of this prudent planning will not alleviate his heirs of this heavy tax burden, and that the continuity of his family's business remains at risk.

      One of Marty's four children, a daughter, has expressed an interest in someday running the family business. Marty wants to ensure that she inherits a financially-sound company. However, he fears that if Congress does not act soon to provide family-owned businesses substantive relief from the death tax, his daughter might not be able to move the company forward into the next century.

      Marty fears that if, at his death, Congress has yet to act on this issue, his company's capital structure may very well be impaired, causing at best, the stagnation of Ettline and at worst the demise of his family business and the loss of a significant number of jobs.

      Marty represents what is still good about this country - the spirit of entrepreneurship and hard work. In his business, the days are long, the work is hard, and the profits are slim. When Marty and his family brought Ettline eight years ago, they also bought a piece of the American dream.

      It is a shame that the death tax threatens this American family's dream.