February 22, 2001 | Read Time: 1 minute
By GRANT WILLIAMS
More than 100 wealthy Americans — including George Soros, David Rockefeller Jr., and William H. Gates Sr., the father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates — have signed a petition that urges Congress not to repeal the estate tax, in part, they say, because without the tax incentive wealthy people would be less inclined to make bequests to charitable organizations.
“The estate tax exerts a powerful and positive effect on charitable giving,” said the petition, which was to appear in an advertisement in The New York Times and other newspapers. “Repeal would have a devastating impact on public charities,” the petition continued.
The petition drive was organized by the elder Mr. Gates.
President Bush has asked Congress to gradually eliminate the estate tax as part of his Agenda for Tax Relief. An outline of the proposal, which would also expand the federal charitable deduction to people who do not itemize their taxes and reduce income tax rates for individuals, can be found online at http://www.whitehouse.gov.
Mr. Bush’s plan to repeal the estate tax drew flak from another quarter as well: one of the president’s own advisers, John J. DiIulio Jr., who was recently named by the president to run the White House’s new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (The Chronicle, February 8).
Mr. DiIulio said he opposes repeal of the tax because the change could discourage private gifts to charities of all kinds that help the poor. “I don’t want to be the skunk at the picnic,” Mr. DiIulio told The New York Times. “But no, I don’t think the estate tax should be eliminated. Modified, maybe, but not eliminated.”
