46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO SUPPORT THE PERMANENT REPEAL OF THE ESTATE TAX.

WHEREAS, under tax relief legislation enacted in 2001, the estate tax was temporarily phased out and not permanently repealed; and

WHEREAS, women and minorities are very often the owners of small- and medium-sized businesses, and the estate tax prevents their children from reaping the rewards of a lifetime of striving to make a better life; and

WHEREAS, farmers and other small business owners face the loss of their farms and small businesses if the estate tax is reinstated; and

WHEREAS, employees suffer when they lose their jobs because small- and medium-sized businesses are liquidated to pay estate taxes and when high capital costs depress the number of new businesses that could offer them jobs; and

WHEREAS, if the estate tax had been repealed in 1996, the United States economy would have averaged as much as eleven billion dollars ($11,000,000,000) a year in extra output, and an additional one hundred forty-five thousand jobs would have been created; and

WHEREAS, the persistent uncertainty created by the sunset provision on the elimination of the estate tax prevents families and small businesses from taking advantage of the temporary repeal; and

WHEREAS, having repeatedly passed both the United States house of representatives and the United States senate, the proposal to eliminate the estate tax has proved to have wide bipartisan support;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation be requested to support the permanent repeal of the estate tax; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.