Letter: Fed estate tax has devastating effect on many

Friday, July 14, 2000 | 9:50 a.m.

In a letter to Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., sent shortly before the House of Representatives voted to gradually repeal the federal estate tax, President Clinton said:

"We should not ... turn our backs on fiscal discipline by passing a regressive, poorly targeted, and expensive repeal of the estate tax. If you send a bill to completely repeal the estate tax, I will veto it rather than risk current fiscal progress."

There are many things wrong about the government stealing a family's legacy. The levy, first enacted in 1916, is detested by about 70 percent of the population.

It discourages savings and investment for a relatively insignificant "bounty" of about 1 percent of total federal tax revenues.

The inheritance tax can be so costly that farms and businesses must be liquidated to pay for Uncle Sam's bite.

Indeed, says the National Federation of Independent Business, the failure of 90 percent of small businesses after the death of the company's founder can be traced to the federal estate tax.

Yet, Bill Clinton does have philosophical comrades in shaking down the dead and their survivors: The Communist Manifesto declares that the right to inheritance should be abolished.

FRANK M. PELTESON