Sponsor still has hope for inheritance-tax bill

A governor-supported bill that would prevent the state's inheritance tax revenues from taking a $12 million hit was killed in committee Friday.

But HB352 sponsoring Rep. Brent Goodfellow, D-West Valley, believes the measure could be resurrected in the Legislature's waning days.

"We're $60 million short of balancing the budget" and fulfilling legislative commitments to projects from state salary increases to funding retirement shortfalls, Goodfellow said. "If in the last few days, they decide they need that, it could breathe new life into (the bill)."

But the proposal hit a dead end in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. As one resident put it: When you die, you should have an appointment with the mortician — not the tax man.

The bill failed, 9-3.

Since 2001, the federal government has been phasing out the estate tax, which is tied to the state's inheritance tax. So as federal revenues decline, so do the state's, Goodfellow said.

HB352 would make it so when a person dies, the tax on his or her estate, if it's worth more than $1 million, would remain at the 2001 rate.