A. L. (Butch) Alford, Jr. Lewiston Morning Tribune Lewiston, ID	Alton F. Baker III The Register-Guard Eugene, OR	Chris Bennett The Medium Seattle, WA
Jerry Brady Post Register Idaho Falls, ID	Scott Campbell The Columbian Vancouver, WA	Chuck Cochrane Yakima Herald-Republic Yakima, WA
Wm. Stacey Cowles The Spokesman-Review Spokane, WA	Nancy L. Freeman Kodiak Daily Mirror Kodiak, AK	Deborah Frol Walla Walla UB Walla Walla, WA
Stephen Hartgen The Times-News Twin Falls, ID	Peter Hovitz Eastside Journal Bellevue, WA	David Lord Pioneer Newspapers Seattle, WA
Elizabeth McCool The Bulletin Bend, OR	Ted Natt The Daily News Longview, WA	Thad Poulson Daily Sitka Sentinel Sitka, AK
Ronald Stewart The News-Review Roseburg, OR	Dwight Tracy Herald and News Klamath Falls, OR	Dennis Waller The Chronicle Centralia, WA
Lew Williams, III Ketchikan Daily News Ketchikan, AK	L. Stedem Wood Skagit Valley Herald Mt. Vernon, WA	Rufus Woods The Wenatchee World Wenatchee, WA

cc:

Evonne Agnello Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association	Diana Kramer Washington Newspaper Publishers Association	Virginia Moorehouse The Bakersfield Californian Bakersfield, CA
Rowland Thompson Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington	Alexis Scott Reeves Atlanta Daily World Atlanta, GA	Dorthy Leavell Chicago Crusader Chicago, IL

Death Tax Newsletter

This bi-monthly newsletter is produced by the Seattle Times for family owned newspapers. Please share it with other family businesses in other industries. Any suggestions for distribution or content will be greatly appreciated.

New report out of Congress further confirms the necessity of Death Tax repeal

The Economics of the Estate Tax, December 8, 1998, A Joint Economic Committee Study

The Joint Economic Committee is one of two advisory panels established when Congress passed the Employment Act of 1946. The JEC’s primary tasks are to review economic conditions and to recommend improvements in economic policy. The study provides compelling independent evidence that costs associated with the estate tax exceed the revenue it generates. Key findings include:

• The estate tax violates the basic principles of a good tax system: It is complicated, unfair and inefficient.
• The estate tax is a leading cause of dissolution for family-run businesses. Estate tax planning further diverts resources available for investments and employment.
• Empirical and theoretical research indicates that the estate tax is ineffective at reducing inequality, and may actually increase inequality of consumption.
• The estate tax raises very little, if any, net revenue for the federal government. The distortionary effects of the estate tax result in losses under the income tax that are roughly the same size as estate tax revenue.
• The existence of the estate tax this century has reduced the stock of capital in the economy by approximately $497 billion, or 3.2 percent.
For a full copy of the JEC report, go to www.house.gov/jec/ or call 202-224-5171.

New Bills in the 106th Congress
The following bills to repeal the estate tax have been introduced in the House and Senate since the start of the 106th Congress.
• S56 - John Kyl (R) introduced his bill for total repeal of the death tax.
• S38 - Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D) introduced S38 to phase out the death tax 5% a year over eleven years.
• HR8 - Jennifer Dunn (R) and John Tanner (D) introduced HR8, the Estate and Gift Tax Rate Reduction Act of 1999 on February 25. Their bill, if passed, would phase out the death tax 5% per year over 11 years.
• HR86 - Christopher Cox (R) introduced the Family Heritage Preservation Act of
1999 to repeal the death tax. He has 196 co-sponsors to date.

Death Tax Repeal High on Political Agenda
Both the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have confirmed that repeal of the federal estate tax will be a key element of their lobbying agenda in the 106th Congress. In fact, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has listed repealing the death tax at the top of their list under tax reduction and tax reform. Attached is a death tax fact sheet the NAA is distributing.

Additional Resources
New Brochure: Enclosed with this newsletter is a brochure available through the Policy & Taxation Group, one of several organizations working to eliminate the death tax. If you would like additional copies for distribution, please call Suzanne Dorris at 206-464-2605.
Web Sites: Here are Web sites in addition to www.deathtax.com that are another good resource for additional information on the death tax:
www.center4studytax.com
www.cox.house.gov/deathtax
www.heritage.org
www.policyandtaxationgroup.com
www.60plus.org

Enclosed with this month’s Newsletter is a sampling of the stories and comments people have shared through the death tax Web site.

P.S. We have started a mailing list. If you know of individuals who are interested in learning more or staying current on death tax repeal, forward their names and addresses to Jill Mackie, The Seattle Times, PO Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, or by e-mail to jmackie@seattletimes.com.

Web site - www.deathtax.com

Did You Know?

The death tax brings in less than 1.1 percent of total federal revenues.

And, it is estimated it costs the government 65 cents of every dollar raised for enforcement and compliance.

The death tax is a jobs issue.

Repeal of the tax would result in 145,000 new jobs over the first 9 years of repeal.

And that doesn’t include the countless jobs that would be saved if the death tax didn’t force 70% of family and small businesses to liquidate or sell out after only one generation.

99% of all private businesses have fewer than 500 employees. This represents 50% of all private sector jobs which generate 50% of all revenue.

77% of the American voters polled by the 60 Plus Association indicated that they would be "more likely" to vote for their member of Congress if he or she voted to eliminate the death tax.