Make Your Voice Heard on Capitol Hill
Rep. Min Marks 50th House Member to Join Congressional Family Business Caucus; ‘Price of Prosperity’ and Wealth Taxes Topics for Latest Gathering on Capitol Hill
Family-Owned Business Leaders Gather in Dirksen Senate Building to Hear Rep. Kustoff and Rep. Panetta, plus Dr. Frank Luntz, Discuss Voter Attitudes, Midterm Legislative Landscape
The Congressional Family Business Caucus met last week in the Dirksen Senate Office Building where family businesses discussed wealth taxes, voter attitudes, and how the post midterm legislative agenda will affect family-owned businesses next year.
The meeting, which saw Rep. David Min (D-CA) become the 50th House member to join the bipartisan Caucus, focused on the themes “The Price of Prosperity” and “Family Business Strategies for Battling All Taxes on Success.”
Attendees also heard from two house members, Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), who shared their overview of the upcoming midterms and how they may affect family-owned businesses.
The Caucus, the last for the 119th Congress, is co-chaired by Rep. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and is comprised of 22 Democrats and 28 Republicans. Family Enterprise USA was the organizer of the Caucus. Family Enterprise USA advocates for family-owned businesses across the country.
With the House of Representatives out of session, Caucus attendees and family business leaders shifted to the Dirksen Building on the Senate side of the Capitol Building.
In the morning session, which began at 8:30AM, legislative updates were provided by Capitol Hill insiders Russ Sullivan and Jared Jones, both from the legal and government affairs firm, Brownstein.
Dr. Frank Luntz, the well-known communications consultant and pollster, presented his views on the political landscape and new research on what Americans will be thinking when they vote this November.
Luntz gave attendees a particularly alarming report on the state of America’s mindset. Luntz presented new research among 1,000 voters which showed voters “don’t want more taxes, they want our government to better manage the funds it already has and stop the wasteful, uncontrolled and unaccountable spending.”
Other findings focused on the barrage of wealth tax proposals in both state and federal chambers.
Luntz’s observations were tough: “Wealth taxes could push good American jobs out of America” and “don’t punish success, rather protect opportunity.”
Another speaker, EY’s Dianne Mehany, Private National Tax Leader at consulting firm EY, presented on “The Cumulative Tax Burden,” a topic that covered how income, estate, gift, and transaction taxes add up on family-owned businesses across generations, and how high-leverage planning can create opportunities.
A panel of family-owned business leaders shared strategies on maintaining businesses growth, tax concerns, and solutions for passing their businesses on to the next generation.
The panelists were Jeff Ahola, of Ahola Corporation, George Gleason, II, of Bank OZK, John-Paul Lake of Rain for Rent, and Casey Roscoe of Gerking Ranch.
Tim Schultz, Chief Executive Officer, and Pat Soldano, President, Family Enterprise USA led the discussions, along with John Gugliada, Director of Engagement, Family Enterprise USA.
“It’s important Members of Congress, including those in the Senate, understand what a powerful economic engine family-owned businesses are for our country, and these Caucus meetings help craft policies that keep them strong and growing,” said Family Enterprise USA’s Schultz.
America’s family businesses are the largest private employers in the country, accounting for 83.3 million jobs in some 32 million family businesses across the country, according to research. These businesses contribute $7.7 trillion annually to U.S. gross domestic product.
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The need for fact-based reporting of issues important to family owned businesses and protecting a lifetime of savings has never been greater. Now more than ever, successful families and family owned businesses are under fire. That's why Family Enterprise USA is passionately working to increase the awareness of issues important to family owned businesses built on hard work, while continuing to strengthen our presence on Capitol Hill. The issues we fight for or against with Congress in Washington DC include high income tax rates, possible elimination of valuation discounts, increase in capital gains tax, enactment of a wealth tax, and the continued burden of the gift tax, estate tax and generation skipping tax.
Family Enterprise USA promotes generationally owned family business creation, growth, viability, and sustainability by advocating for family businesses and their lifetime of savings with Congress in Washington DC. Since 2007, Family Enterprise USA has represented and celebrated all sizes, professions and industries of family-owned enterprises and multi-generational employers. It is a bi-partisan 501.c3 organization. Family foundations can donate.