mr. speaker , today i rise in support of permanently repealing the death tax . 
i would like to thank the gentleman from missouri for his leadership on this issue and his good timing , for in 2 days the tax man cometh . 
as i look at these young people in the gallery today , i say to them , this bill is about you . 
it is about the youth in this country . 
for too long , the federal government has been taxing working americans , not once , not twice , but three times , on their hard-earned money . 
when they earn it , the government takes an income tax . 
when they spend it , the government takes a sales tax . 
and finally , even when they die , the government takes a tax from the grave . 
in addition to being bad policy , the death tax is morally wrong . 
it confiscates private property and is an unbearable cost to small businesses , ranchers and farmers , which is precisely why the farm bureau supports this bill . 
i could tell you many stories about families that were forced to borrow large sums of money or sell off or parcel out their farms or businesses , dividing their families . 
i could tell you about the berdolls from austin , texas , in my district who , after paying off a 30-year mortgage , spent 20 more years paying this unfair tax burden . 
they literally paid for their farm twice . 
the names may change , but the story is the same . 
it is time we removed this financial burden from the backs of those pursuing the american dream . 
we must guarantee that people do not have to suffer the same hardships as the berdolls . 
i urge my colleagues to support this important measure . 
