John,

Representative Jimmy Gomez is preparing to introduce the For the 99.8% Act, and the deadline for securing original co-sponsors is the end of this week in the U.S. House. It is a companion to a bill already introduced by Bernie Sanders in the U.S. Senate.

Click here to send a letter to your Representative and encourage them to become an original co-sponsor of this bill, which strengthens the Federal Estate Tax, raising an additional $330 billion from the nation’s richest 0.2% of families over ten years.

What could we do with an extra $330 billion?

We could make health coverage more affordable by strengthening the Affordable Care Act ($300 billion); we could fully fund the Title I education program to ensure all high-poverty schools receive the staffing and other aid to which they’re entitled ($330 billion); we could fully fund special education ($197 billion) and Head Start ($140 billion); or put a one-third down payment on a $1 trillion infrastructure investment.[1]

Right now the estate tax only affects the richest 0.1% ― that’s just 1,800 estates a year.[2] If your estate is NOT worth at least $11 million, NO federal estate tax is owed.

If passed, the For the 99.8% Act would restore the Federal Estate Tax back to 2009 levels ― only affecting estates worth more than $3.5 million (or the top 0.2%). It would replace the current flat 40% rate with a progressive scale, so that the largest estates topping $1 billion pay much more than under current law.

At a time when the growing gap between the richest 1% and everyone else is creating enormous wealth inequality and devastating our ability to invest in critical services that benefit working families, it is critical that we strengthen the Federal Estate Tax ― a tool that puts a check on the transfer of generational wealth among our nation’s richest families.

Send a letter to your U.S. Representative today and encourage them to become an original co-sponsor of the For the 99.8% Act.

Together, we’re changing the national conversation around taxes, demanding that the rich and powerful pay their fair share.

Thank you,

Mark Rickling

Policy and Legislative Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund

[1] “80 National Organizations Urge You to Co-sponsor Rep. Gomez’s ‘For the 99.8% Act’: Estate Tax Reform,” Americans for Tax Fairness, Sep. 23, 2019

[2] “Gomez Estate Tax Bill Will Affect Very Few Estates — State by State Estimates, Americans for Tax Fairness, July 15, 2019