St. Louis, MO – The National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) has been a long time opponent of the federal estate tax, often referred to as the death tax, and is pleased to see repeal of the death tax listed among the principles for tax reform released this week by the White House. The majority of NAED members are family owned and operated businesses who could be devastated by the death tax.
NAED also expressed agreement with other tax reform principles announced by Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn: lowering the tax rate on small businesses to 15%, repealing the 3.8% Obamacare tax on small businesses and investment income, and reducing the tax compliance burden on small businesses.
“The tax code has not been meaningfully updated in more than 30 years,” said Ed Orlet, NAED vice president of Government Affairs. “This is an opportunity for Congress to pass repeal of the death tax and provide much needed tax relief to our members. During NAED's Congressional Fly-in, our members will have a unique ability to influence the lawmaking process and ensure tax reform benefits our small businesses.”
Momentum for tax reform has been building in Congress. Last year, the House Committee on Ways and Means released their pro-growth “better way” blueprint for tax reform which also called for repeal of the death tax. NAED also supports Senator Thune (R-SD) and Congresswoman Noem’s (R-SD) Death Tax Repeal Act of 2017 as part of the 2017 “Light Up the Hill” initiative.