January 24, 2001

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN) has reintroduced a package of legislative alternatives to eliminate, phaseout or reduce the death tax. Lugar said he favors the first of his four bills, the outright repeal of the estate and gift taxes.

The second bill would phase out the estate tax over five years by gradually raising the unified credit each year until the tax is repealed after the fifth year. The third bill would immediately raise the effective unified credit to $5 million. The last bill would raise the gift tax exemption from $10,000 to $25,000.

Lugar also cosponsored the reintroduction of a bill to allow a 100 percent deduction of health insurance costs for the self-employed.

Lugar also has reintroduced legislation that would increase donations to food banks, soup kitchens and other hunger relief charities. The Senate unanimously supported the bill as an amendment to a tax bill last year but did not move beyond that.

This year Lugar said he would be joined by Rep. Tony Hall (D-OH), a congressional leader in the fight against hunger, who will be introducing the Good Samaritan Hunger Relief Tax Incentive Act in the House. Lugar and Hall have collaborated on numerous hunger relief efforts.

"The demand on our nation's food banks, church pantries, soup kitchens and shelters continues to rise," said Lugar. According to an August 2000 report on Hunger Security by USDA, 31 million Americans (around 10% of the population) live on the edge of hunger. One segment – families with incomes between 50 and 130% of the poverty level – has experienced an increase in the number of households that are food insecure since 1995.

"This study confirms what food bank managers and workers have been telling me -- while many families are moving from welfare to work, these families are still vulnerable to hunger and are using food banks to supplement their nutritional needs," Lugar said in a Congressional Record statement introducing the bill.

"Unfortunately, many food banks cannot meet this increased demand for food," he added. A December 1999 study by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 18% in cities over the previous year and that 21% of emergency food requests could not be met.

"These figures are troubling because of the enormous amount of food that goes unused annually. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that up to 96 billion pounds of food goes to waste each year in the United States. If a small percentage of this wasted food could be redirected to food banks, we could make important strides in our fight against hunger," said Lugar.