1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing Congress to permanently repeal the death 
  1.3             tax. 
  1.4      
  1.5      WHEREAS, under tax relief legislation passed in 2001, the 
  1.6   death tax was temporarily phased out, not permanently 
  1.7   eliminated; and 
  1.8      WHEREAS, women and minorities are very often owners of 
  1.9   small and medium-sized businesses, and the death tax prevents 
  1.10  their children from reaping the rewards of a lifetime trying to 
  1.11  make a better life; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, farmers and other small businesses will face 
  1.13  losing their farms and businesses if the federal government 
  1.14  resumes the heavy taxation of citizens at death; and 
  1.15     WHEREAS, employees suffer when they lose their jobs when 
  1.16  small and medium-sized businesses are liquidated to pay death 
  1.17  taxes and because high capital costs depress the number of new 
  1.18  businesses that could offer them a job; and 
  1.19     WHEREAS, if the estate tax had been repealed in 1996, over 
  1.20  the next nine years the U.S. economy would have averaged as much 
  1.21  as $11 billion per year in extra output, and an average of 
  1.22  145,000 additional new jobs would have been created; and 
  1.23     WHEREAS, the persistent uncertainty created by the sunset 
  1.24  provision prevents families and small businesses from taking 
  2.1   advantage of the temporary repeal; and 
  2.2      WHEREAS, having repeatedly passed both the U.S. House of 
  2.3   Representatives and the U.S. Senate, elimination of the death 
  2.4   tax has proven to hold wide bipartisan support; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.5      BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.6   that it urges the United States Congress to support, work to 
  2.7   pass, and vote for the immediate and permanent repeal of the 
  2.8   death tax. 
  2.9      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.10  State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.11  memorial and transmit them to the President and Vice-President 
  2.12  of the United States, the President and the Secretary of the 
  2.13  United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United 
  2.14  States House of Representatives, and Minnesota's Senators and 
  2.15  Representatives in Congress.