mr. speaker , i yield myself the balance of my time . 
mr. speaker , i appreciate in large measure the tone of the debate . 
what i would say to the gentlewoman who just spoke and to others who raised the red herring of social security is to remind folks , first of all , the federal receipts from the federal death tax represent less than 1.5 percent of all revenues , first of all ; and , secondly , that none of the income tax money generated from the estate tax goes to social security for the trust funds , and eliminating the tax in no way will affect or impact current social security benefits . 
not one bit . 
now , i do want to respond . 
i heard , i think , the gentleman from massachusetts earlier say that really there has been no policy justification for keeping this tax , other than we need the money . 
in fact , i think one gentleman said something , from massachusetts , about we need to pay our fair share . 
well , let me just ask you to consider your day . 
when you woke up this morning , if you hit the snooze button on your electric alarm clock , you are paying an electric tax . 
when you jumped into the shower this morning , you paid a water tax . 
if you saw the gentleman from north dakota ( mr. pomeroy ) xz4003230 and i on c-span debating this issue this morning , you are paying a cable tv tax . 
when you drove to work this morning , you are paying a gasoline tax . 
if you stopped for a cup of coffee , you paid a sales tax . 
if you used the telephone at all today , you are paying a telephone tax . 
and , of course , when you are at work , your wages are subject to a payroll tax that does go into social security , payroll taxes that do pay for medicare , not to mention your income taxes . 
if you drive home to your home and you are lucky enough and fortunate enough to own a home , you are probably paying a local property tax . 
when you kiss your spouse good night , you think that is free . 
no , leave it to the federal government to continue to have this thing called the marriage tax . 
and , yes , if you scrape and invest and save and you build a family business , have the audacity to pursue the american dream , the federal government is there with its hand out saying give us 45 percent of the value of your family business . 
now i have heard from my colleagues on the other side who say that family farms are not affected . 
well , then let me tell you a very quick personal story , a story of a farm family in missouri , a young married couple who in 1956 left portageville , missouri , in the district of the gentlewoman from missouri ( mrs. emerson ) xz4001210 , with $ 1 , 000 in their pocket , and that was going to be the stake that they had . 
it happened that the woman was an expectant mother with her first child and , as it turned out , her only child . 
that married couple happened to be my parents , and over the last 2 1/2 years i have had the unfortunate reality that obviously death is inevitable , and i have had the unfortunate experience in our family of having both my father pass away in late 2002 and my mother one year ago . 
i do not mind sharing with you , a 514 acre farm , a modest life insurance policy , the house that i grew up in , a combine , three tractors and some irrigation equipment , and that is it . 
and i am sitting across the mahogany desk from our long-time family accountant with the adding machine with a tape on it , and he is plugging in an arbitrary value for these assets that my parents invested their soul into . 
and i am breaking out into a cold sweat wondering whether or not this business that they built and wanted to pass on is going to fall above an arbitrary line or below an arbitrary line that we in congress have set . 
now we did not have to pay the tax , but 14 days ago i had the requirement of filling out the form and paying the $ 2 , 000 accountant fee ; and , again , i do not quarrel with that . 
but , mr. speaker , the death of a family member should not be a taxable event , period . 
mr. speaker , i urge my colleagues to vote for h.r. 8 . 
