Death tax bad for rural America, Bush says in Iowa speech

Death tax bad for rural America, Bush says in Iowa speech
By Tom Block

President George W. Bush called on Congress to make death tax repeal and other tax cuts permanent during a speech in Des Moines last week.

Bush spoke to more than 500 bankers, economic experts and rural development officials at the Capitalizing on Rural America symposium sponsored by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines.

He said a conversation he had with Farm Bureau members Jim and Ann Sage, a ninth-generation farm family from Waterloo, illustrates the importance of Farm Bureau-supported death tax repeal.

It s a great Iowa tradition for families to take over the farm. That s what the Sages want, Bush said. After all, it s their asset, isn t it? It s their farm. It s nobody else s farm. They ought to be able to leave their farm to who they want to leave their farm to without the interference of the federal government.

Bush said the death tax is bad for economic development in rural America because it s bad for small business owners and farmers.

We put the death tax on its way to extinction, but, unfortunately, in the year 2011 it comes back to life, he said. It makes no sense for the federal government to tax a person s assets twice, once when they re living and making money, and after they depart. The death tax is bad for rural America, and Congress needs to make it extinct forever.

Touts energy plan

Bush said his energy plan would also strengthen rural economies by promoting the use of renewable fuels.

To make sure the economy continues to grow and rural America is healthy, we need an energy plan, he said. We need to use that which we grow, right here in places like Iowa, to make us less dependent on foreign sources of energy. That s why I ve worked with (Sen. Grassley) on ethanol, which I think is an important ingredient, an important part of making sure that we have a modern energy plan as we go into the 21st century. Let s grow it, instead of depending upon foreign sources to provide it.

Confidence in free trade policies is also important to rural America, Bush said.

There s a lot of talk about economic isolationism in Washington right now. That means throwing up barriers to trade. That will be bad for rural America, he said. It s not going to happen on my watch. I will resist that mightily, because I believe that when you re good at something, you ought to promote it. We re really good at growing things, and we ought to be selling things that we grow, everywhere around the world. We re 5 percent of the world s population. Why don t we sell to the other 95 percent, as opposed to walling ourselves off?

He said the U.S. will continue to seek balanced free trade agreements with trading partners.

It s beginning to work, he said. Farm income is at a record level in 2003, much of it thanks to the ability for our farmers to export into other markets. And it s important to keep those markets open. Economic isolationism will hurt rural America, and it s not going to happen.

Bush said the spread of broadband technology will also help transform rural areas, changing the way services such as education and health care are delivered.

Posted 4/19/2004