Please Sign the Call to Preserve the Estate Tax

As control of the U.S. Senate changes hands, there will again be a major push to permanently eliminate the federal estate tax. I ask that you add your voice in support of keeping the estate tax, by signing ‘The Call to Preserve the Estate Tax.’

I expect to pay an estate tax, yet I believe the estate tax is fair and should not be repealed. Elimination of the estate tax will concentrate wealth in fewer hands, reduce charitable giving, and reduce federal revenue by $850 billion in the decade after repeal, precisely at the time of swollen budget deficits.

I ask you to sign the ‘Call to Preserve the Estate Tax’ petition sponsored by Responsible Wealth and United for a Fair Economy. There is a “check-off” as to whether you do or do not expect to owe estate taxes. (Currently, taxes are charged on estates worth more than $1 million.)

By signing, you will join 1000 Americans, including Paul Newman, Bill Gates Sr., author Annie Dillard, George Soros, Ted Turner, Agnes Gund, and many ordinary people, who call for reforming the estate tax by raising exemptions, but not eliminating it.

You can find the petition on-line at http://www.responsiblewealth.org/estatetax . There is a brief statement and sign-on form. At that site, you will also find background information and see some of the significant media coverage that this petition has attracted.

Responsible Wealth and United for a Fair Economy would like to go public in January with a new round of petition signers ­ and I ask your help in spreading the word.

Please sign the ‘Call to Preserve the Estate Tax’ and send this message to 5 friends. Please email me when you sign. Thanks!