TimesUnion
To the editor Published 4:27 pm, Saturday, September 23, 2017
It’s unfortunate that Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer is so woefully uninformed about the impact of the federal “death tax” (“Estate tax cut plan irks Schumer,” Sept. 13). Perhaps he should remove himself from the salons of Manhattan and Capitol Hill for a day to visit the peanut farmers of southwest Georgia where his fellow Democrat, Rep. Sanford Bishop, is supporting the abolition of this tax.
If Schumer were to listen to families in Georgia, North Dakota or anywhere else in Middle America, he would learn firsthand that many of these rural families have significant assets tied up in tracts of land that have been in the same family for generations, and they should not be forced by the government to sell their property to pay this tax because of a death in the family.
Schumer’s support of this century-old relic that was supposed to be repealed after World War I is the only absurdity in this issue. Family farms, ranches and small businesses, and the communities in which they provide jobs, should not be punished because Schumer doesn’t know the facts about the “death tax.”
James Martin
Alexandria, Va.
Founder and chairman, 60 Plus Association
