mr. speaker , i yield myself 5 minutes . 
mr. speaker , i appreciate the fact that we are here today poised to pass h.r. 8 , the death tax repeal permanency act of 2005 . 
on behalf of the lead democratic sponsor , my colleague , the gentleman from alabama ( mr. cramer ) xz4000840 , as well as the over 200 bipartisan members who have co-sponsored this bill , i am pleased that we are poised to pass in this body this commonsense legislation . 
i would like to talk about a couple of constituents , particularly a constituent named howard effert who is a resident of columbia , missouri , who in 1965 began a lumber yard business there in columbia . 
he contributed $ 100 , which was a very modest contribution , as he had three young children to provide for with a modest wage . 
he had the idea and a desire for a new venture even though many within the community felt this venture would be unsuccessful , but yet his partners helped him provide the financial assistance and of course some valuable mentoring to help him open the doors to this lumber business . 
fast forward now 40 years . 
his two sons , brad and greg , are running the day-to-day operations of the business . 
of course , they want this family business that has been in their family since its modest beginnings in 1965 to be able to be passed on pursuant to the american dream , that is , to create a legacy , to help your children be better off than you were . 
yet the effert family today , mr. speaker , has to write a check for $ 1 , 000 a week , $ 52 , 036 to be precise , to purchase a term life insurance policy , the proceeds of which will be to pay the federal government on that inevitable day that howard effert passes from this world to the next . 
in 2001 we passed historic legislation that let all income tax payers keep a little bit more of what they earned , and this historic legislation included a repeal of the federal death tax which was a top tax priority for a lot of small business and family farm groups . 
thus under current law , the death tax is gradually phased out between now and 2010 . 
this is accomplished by increasing the exemption from the tax . 
currently it is $ 1.5 million shielded from this very confiscatory tax , and at the same time we chip away at that top rate , which was as high as 55 percent , and in fact , in a few isolated instances as high as 60 percent tax . 
we now chip that away , and it is currently 47 percent . 
unfortunately , as we know , the death tax does not stay dead and buried . 
as things now stand , it will rise from the grave in 2011 , and it will revert to its form prior to 2001 . 
now , this quirk in the law can be directly attributed to the senate 's byrd rule , which applies to the consideration of reconciliation bills . 
as a matter of basic fairness , we must permanently repeal the death tax . 
the death of a family member quite simply should not be a taxable event . 
and if it was good policy when we enacted it in 2001 , it remains a good idea today . 
let me touch briefly on some policy rationales for finishing this unfinished work . 
the death tax is fundamentally unfair . 
by its very structure , the tax punishes thrift , savings , and hard work . 
conversely , the tax forces taxpayers to engage in a host of economically inefficient activities to avoid the very punitive nature of the tax . 
not only does this have a very real effect on taxpayers and their behavior but a negative impact on the economy . 
with a tax like the death tax , a family business or farm has no choice but to divert these precious resources , as in the case of the effert family , to plan financially for the financial impact for the tax : money that could be used to expand the business , to purchase a forklift , to bring another person on the payroll , whatever is in the best interest of that business . 
instead , this money is diverted in anticipation of this very punitive tax . 
now , supporters of retaining the death tax will claim that perhaps redistribution of income promotes economic fairness and social responsibility . 
we will get to have that debate . 
i respectfully disagree . 
instead of rewarding savings and investment , this tax actually rewards those who spend lavishly and leave no ongoing business interest or assets to the next generation . 
i am mindful of the bumper sticker that i saw recently traveling missouri 's highways on a big recreational vehicle that says `` i am spending my children 's inheritance. '' if you wanted to give some good estate tax advice to someone that has put together some assets to pass along , it would be simply to consume it . 
yet as we talk about some sort of tax reform and perhaps a consumption tax , this tax actually focuses on non-consumption and on thrift and savings . 
for that and for a variety of reasons , we will have the opportunity , i hope , in a good debate , in a civil discourse . 
i think we should permanently repeal the death tax . 
we should enact h.r. 8 . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
