March 17, 2010 – Today we attended the House Ways and Means Committee markup of H.R. 4849, the “Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010”. As expected, Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) offered an amendment to strike the GRAT provision from the bill. The Congressman spoke for three minutes in support of his amendment and used the opportunity to argue for substantive estate tax relief to truly help family businesses and create jobs. Unfortunately, the amendment was rejected on a voice vote. The bill was later reported out of committee by a vote of 25-15.
Policy and Taxation Group expressed opposition to the inclusion of the provision to key members of the committee on both substantive and procedural grounds. In the days ahead, we will continue to work closely with our allies to weigh in strongly against the use of any estate tax revenue raisers in legislation unrelated to estate tax reform. We will keep you posted.