Report Notes Job Losses If Estate Tax Returns

A new study by the American Family Business Foundation indicates that as many as 1.5 million additional jobs could be lost if Congress allows the Federal Estate Tax to return next year. Under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA), the estate tax expired at the end of 2009 but will return in 2011 at a rate of 55 percent on all assets over one-million dollars. The study concludes that if the estate tax were reinstituted at a 65 percent rate, more than 1.6 million jobs would be lost. If Congress takes no action and the estate tax returns to the pre-EGTRRA rate of 55 percent, between 1.4-million and 1.5-million jobs would be lost.

Numerous national agricultural organizations, including the American Sheep Industry Association, came together this summer to ask for Senate support in passing permanent and meaningful estate tax relief legislation.

Reprinted from NLPA