HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 36


(By Delegates Trump, L. Smith, Fletcher, Riggs, Faircloth,

Border, Anderson, G. White, Canterbury, Leggett,

Ashley, Overington, Armstead, Walters, Ellem and Schadler)


[Introduced February 21, 2002; referred to the

Committee on Rules.]

Requesting the West Virginia Congressional Delegation to work to permanently repeal the death tax.

Whereas, Under the tax relief legislation passed by Congress in 2001, the Death Tax was temporarily phased out, not permanently eliminated; and

Whereas, Women and minorities are very often owners of small and medium-sized businesses, and the Death Tax prevents their children from reaping the rewards of a lifetime trying to make a better life for their family and loved ones; and

Whereas, Farmers will face losing their farms if the federal government resumes the heavy taxation of the estates of people who invested most of their earnings back into their farms; and

Whereas, Employees suffer when they lose their jobs because many small and medium-size businesses are liquidated to pay death taxes and because high capital costs depress the number of new businesses that could offer them a job; and

Whereas, If the estate tax had been repealed in 1996, over the next nine years the national economy would have averaged as much as eleven billion dollars per year in extra output, and an average of 145,000 additional new jobs would have been created; and

Whereas, The persistent uncertainty created by the sunset provision prevents families and small businesses from taking advantage of the repeal; and

Whereas, Having passed both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, elimination of the death tax has proven to hold wide bipartisan support; therefore, be it

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That the Legislature of the State of West Virginia requests our elected representatives in the United States Congress to support, work to pass and vote for the permanent repeal of the death tax; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House is directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the members of the West Virginia Congressional Delegation.