Senators Colgan and O'Brien Agree Death Tax Should Go

By Christy Goodman
Examiner Staff Writer

A coalition of Virginians against the estate tax are calling for citizens to apply pressure on their legislators.

The Tuesday deadline for all bills to be dealt with is approaching, and the bill to repeal the estate tax, a tax of up to 16 percent of a deceased person's assets, has yet to be discussed by the Senate Finance Committee.

"As you come closer to the deadline, we want to make sure there is some movement on it," said Victoria Cobb, executive director of the Family Foundation of Virginia.

Cobb and other organizations against "the death tax" said the tax can be so costly that families must break apart family farms or sell businesses in order to pay the tax.

The bill passed in both the senate and house two years ago but was vetoed by then-Gov. Mark Warner.

"There is certainly a belief that the state can never get enough revenue. This is a source of revenue no matter how unfair or how difficult it is on families," Cobb said.

The proposed legislation would phase out the estate tax over several years, similar to the federal phase out.

Virginia would lose $36 million this year, $140 million combined in 2007 and 2008 and $120 million in 2009, said Sen. Jay O'Brien, R-Clifton, an author of one of five bills in the General Assembly on the subject.

"It was one of those things that everyone hated. We agreed we hated it, but what year do we bite the bullet?" said O'Brien in a year where there is more than $1 billion of budget surplus.

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee will figure out how much money is left and what the impact will be, said Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, a committee member.

"I think we will most likely report it out," Colgan said.

Reasons to repeal Tax

- More than 30 states have no "death tax."

- There is business loss as owners move to those states.

- Businesses pay $60,000 a year to prepare for the estate tax.

- Through 2001, 2.6 million acres of forest land were harvested and 1.3 million acres were sold each year to raise funds to pay estate taxes.

Source: Virginians for Death Tax Repeal

cgoodman@dcexaminer.com