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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Fox-Young

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/21/07

2/22/07 HB HM 32

SHORT TITLE Permanently Abolish Death Tax

SB

ANALYST Francis

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Memorial 32 would send a message from the NM House of Representatives to the US

Congressional delegation in support of permanently repealing the estate tax.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

To date, there has been little evidence that small farms and businesses have been forced to be

liquidated because of the estate tax. According to a study by Citizens for Tax Justice, a

progressive tax policy advocacy group in Washington, based on 2004 IRS data, only 100 New

Mexicans paid any estate tax in 2003, comprising 0.7 percent of all estates. In the 90s when the

limits were much lower, only 1.3 percent of estates were subject to the tax. Under current law,

only estates greater than $2 million (for tax years 2006-2008) are subject to the tax, less than 2

percent nationwide.

The current federal estate tax will be repealed in 2010 but the repeal expires in 2011 at which

point the estate tax as it was in 2001 will be restored.

NF/nt