News Room

FMI Applauds Sen. Thune's Introduction of a Estate Tax Repeal Bill

March 28, 2012
ARLINGTON, VA – March 28, 2012 – Food Marketing Institute (FMI) supports Senator John Thune’s (R-SD) introduction of an estate tax repeal bill today that will negate an unfair form of double taxation that threatens family-owned grocers.

“Senator Thune is a strong advocate for family-owned supermarkets in the United States,” FMI Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs Jennifer Hatcher said. “The estate tax forces business owners to spend their fortunes on estate planning instead of expanding their businesses and creating new jobs.”

Background for Media:

The estate tax poses a unique threat to America’s family-owned businesses. Although designed to impact only the very wealthy, it has just as frequently been applied to the kind of small and medium-sized businesses that are at the core of the U.S. economy. Long considered the most confiscatory tax imposed by the U.S. government, the rate has risen in the past to as high as 55 percent. And it is imposed following an owner’s death, at a time when businesses are most in need of all available resources.

Food Marketing Institute (FMI) conducts programs in public affairs, food safety, research, education and industry relations on behalf of its nearly 1,250 food retail and wholesale member companies in the United States and around the world. FMI’s U.S. members operate more than 25,000 retail food stores and almost 22,000 pharmacies with a combined annual sales volume of nearly $650 billion.  FMI’s retail membership is composed of large multi-store chains, regional firms and independent operators. Its international membership includes 126 companies from more than 65 countries. FMI’s nearly 330 associate members include the supplier partners of its retail and wholesale members. 

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