2010 would be the year to die

If you are an owner of a small to medium-sized business or a family farm, expect to pass away in the next few years and hope to leave something to your children, 2010 is a great year to head to your eternal reward.

That's because this year the death tax goes to 0 percent - but for a limited time only! Thanks to the infinite wisdom of Congress when it passed estate tax reform 10 years ago, this new tax rate is only valid through 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31. If you wait even one minute into 2011 to enter the pearly gates, your children will be hit with a tax of up to 55 percent of the value of the property you had hoped to leave them.

Don't have enough cash on hand to pay that staggering sum to Uncle Sam? Too bad; your children will just have to liquidate the property at today's depressed prices or go head-over-heels into debt.

Don't believe me? The 2006 study from the Congressional Joint Economic Committee found that "tens of thousands of small and family businesses . . . were subject to the estate tax," and one survey showed "98 percent of heirs cited 'needed to raise funds to pay estate taxes' when asked why family businesses fail."

Death tax proponents like to claim that the goal of the tax is government-sponsored fairness and equality, and that the target is the uber-rich - people like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Soros, or your favorite Paris Hilton emulator. In reality, the billionaires don't pay a dime in estate taxes because their phalanxes of accountants and tax lawyers have all that money shielded from the IRS.

No, the ones who pay are the little guys - those who own farm ground, a small manufacturing plant, or a retail store like many of those that line downtown Long Grove. Because of the estate tax, you pay regardless: you either pay taxes when you die, or you pay for your own phalanx of accountants and tax lawyers to help you do what the uber-rich have already done.

In my town, we have a lot of small business owners who are creating jobs. Some of these businesses have been around for decades - one for 160 years. As mayor, I'm concerned that the temporary tax reprieve may cause some in my town to make medical decisions this year with an eye to protecting their family's livelihood rather than caring for their health. No family should be faced with that dilemma.

The very existence of an estate tax in the first place is hindering our area's economic development and potential for more job growth. Instead of a family business continuing on to the next generation, the federal government steals from our children to line its coffers.

What is Congress' plan to address this fiasco? Rather than do the right thing and kill the death tax permanently, word is that Congress wants to reinstate the tax this year and make it retroactive to Jan. 1. If Nancy Pelosi can't get the votes for that, then the most likely course of action is for Congress to do nothing and wait for the tax to reset at midnight on Jan. 1. That isn't acceptable. It's time for Congress to do what it should have done 10 years ago - kill the death tax once and for all.

• Maria Rodriguez is village president of Long Grove.