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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 offices and hardworking families and protecting a lifetime of savings has never been greater. Now more than ever, family offices and hardworking families are under fire. That’s why Family Enterprise USA Action is passionately working to increase the awareness of issues important to family offices and hardworking families, while continuing to strengthen our presence on Capitol Hill.
Family Enterprise USA Action engages with legislators on Capitol Hill on behalf of family offices, hardworking families, and family-owned businesses. It is focused exclusively on the critical tax and economic policies that impact them. Since 1995, FEUSA Action has been the leading advocacy group working daily in Washington, D.C., to reduce and eliminate estate tax, gift tax, and generation skipping transfer tax while blocking increased income and capital gains taxes, the creation of a wealth tax, and other hostile policies that punish hardworking taxpayers and success in the U.S. It is a bipartisan 501.c4 organization.