(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Dennis Moore (Third District -- Kansas) introduced a bill today to reduce the tax burden on Kansas families by repealing the estate tax for 99.7 percent of all estates in our country.

“Estate taxes in our country are too high,” Moore said. “I have long been a supporter of estate tax relief, particularly for small businesses and family farms. My bill would protect 99.7 percent of American families and would have a much smaller impact on our record federal deficits than a full repeal.”

The bill would provide immediate relief by permanently raising the exemption from $1.5 million to $3.5 million for individuals. Additionally, the exemption for married couples would rise to $7 million under the bill.

“While I continue to support estate tax relief, I also continue to support fiscally responsible policies that will not transfer trillions of dollars in debt to future generations,” Moore said. “The ‘debt tax’ that we are imposing on our children and grandchildren cannot be repealed, and can only be reduced if we take responsible steps now to improve our fiscal situation.”

The bill preserves the step-up in cost basis, which prevents heirs from having to pay sizable capital gains taxes when they sell an inherited asset.

“My bill is free of unwelcome surprises awaiting taxpayers in other estate tax bills,” Moore said. “Unlike some proposals before Congress, it would not ease the estate tax burden only to hit taxpayers with increased capital gains liability.”

During his first term in Congress, Moore voted to override then-President Clinton’s veto of a measure that repealed the estate tax. Moore has supported a number of tax relief measures, including the President Bush’s tax relief bill in 2001, which included a phase-out and temporary repeal of the estate tax. In the last session, he voted to permanently eliminate the marriage tax penalty, to reform the alternative minimum tax exemption and to permanently extend the 10-percent individual income tax rate bracket.

“I have consistently supported tax cuts that reduce the tax burden on families and increase tax fairness, and that is something that Congress needs to do more often,” Moore said.