Today the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) announced its 2017 “Light Up the Hill” initiative to repeal the federal estate tax. As part of the initiative NAED supports Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Congresswoman Kristi Noem’s (R-SD) introduction of the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2017, S. 205 and H.R. 631.
“The death tax has vexed family-owned electrical distributors for many years because if they want to keep the business in the family, they spend significant time and money estate planning. This represents time and money that can’t be invested in growing the business,” said Ed Orlet, NAED vice president of Government Affairs. “This effort excites our members and they will be contacting their Members of Congress urging them to vote in favor of repeal. Our members will be focused on repealing this tax to keep businesses operating that supply the products that power the nation.”
The majority of NAED members are family owned and operated businesses that could be devastated by the death tax. They are especially susceptible because of their large inventory.
NAED will activate its membership to push for repeal through visits to Congressional offices by business owners and a nationwide campaign to bring the public’s attention to the need to repeal the death tax. Read more about the issue.
In 2015, NAED kicked off their “Light Up the Hill” initiative supporting repeal of the death tax and supported the House of Representatives passing the Death Tax Repeal Act for the first time in 10 years in April 2015. Momentum for repeal of the estate tax has been building in recent years. During his campaign, President Trump called for repeal of the estate tax and Congressional Republicans included repeal in their tax reform “blueprint.”