(Statehouse) January 25, 2007 – Today, State Representative Tom Saunders (Lewisville) voted for House Bill 1027 Minority Committee Report, a measure that would have eliminated the Indiana Death Tax. The Report was debated on the floor of the House of Representatives, yet failed by a 48-51 vote.

“Indiana could have taken big steps to eliminate an unfair tax that doubles taxation on Hoosiers’ property,” said Rep. Saunders.  “Future generations of Hoosiers will now continue to pay the state on any inherited property from this undue measure.”

Class A beneficiaries include the lineal ancestors and descendants, such as grandparents, parents, children, step-children, and grandchildren.  If it had passed the House, the Committee Report would have phased-out the Death Tax over the next five years. In 2008, the initiative aimed to raise Class A exemptions to $200,000, then raising the exemption again in 2009 to $300,000. Beginning in 2010, Class A beneficiaries would have been exempt from the tax. By 2012, every beneficiary would have been exempt, effectively eliminating the Death Tax. Indiana is one of only thirteen states in the nation that still impose this tax.