In a total surprise, taking an anti-ownership position no one expected, the President’s Advisory Commission on Tax Reform has recommended that President Bush ask Congress to eliminate ESOPs!
It is imperative that the employee ownership community and ESOP community protest loudly, and consistently this surprise anti-employee ownership recommendation.
One - write, email, fax, or call Secretary of Treasury John W. Snow urging him and his Treasury Department, which has received the Commission’s recommendations, to reject the recommendation that there be no more ESOPs.
Two - write, or call, your Representative in the U.S. Congress and your Senators urging them to oppose openly any recommendation to eliminate ESOPs.
Please note, the Commission did not, repeat did not, offer any suggestion to continue any program similar to current law ESOPs.
Dear Secretary Snow:
The President’s Advisory Commission on Tax Reform has recommended that employee ownership through employee stock ownership plans, or ESOPs, be eliminated.
Such a recommendation is shocking, and contra to the Administration’s previous posture towards employee ownership, and flies in the face of over thirty years of Presidential and Congressional support of broadened ownership. [In fact, President Reagan’s proposal for tax reform expanded employee ownership through ESOPs.].
[As an ESOP company [partially] [wholly] owned by its employees through its ESOP] [As a professional who works with companies with employee ownership through ESOPs], [I] [we] respectfully urge the Administration to reject the Commission’s anti-ownership recommendation and urge you to reaffirm the Administration’s prior pro-ownership position.
Your consideration is appreciated.
Sincerely
[Company official] [Employee owners]
Secretary Snow’s mailing address is Department of Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC20220, phone 202.622.1100, website www.ustreas.gov
Dear [Representative] [Senator] _____:
The President’s Advisory Commission on Tax Reform has recommended that employee ownership through employee stock ownership plans, or ESOPs, be eliminated.
Such a recommendation is shocking, and flies in the face of thirty plus years of bi-partisan Congressional support of broadened ownership through ESOPs.
Should the Treasury Department accept the Commission’s recommendation there be no more employee ownership through ESOPs, [we] [I] urge you to reject any such recommendation when, and if, it is considered by Congress.
And unlike the Commission’s failure to give a hearing to ownership issues in the United States, we respectfully ask to be heard on the positive record ESOPs have established if the Congress and its committees have hearings on this proposal to stymie employee ownership.
Finally, [we] [I] respectfully ask that you express opposition to this unexpected attack on employee ownership through ESOPs.
Your consideration is appreciated.
Sincerely
[Company official] [Employee owners]
* Specifically, the Commission recommends that all defined contribution plans, which include ESOPs, be eliminated, and a “Save at Work” plan, which is similar to a current law 401(k) plan, be the only tax qualified defined contribution plan that an employer can sponsor for employees.
As the Commission’s recommendations are reviewed by the Treasury Department and/or Congress, The ESOP Association will keep you informed. The ESOP Association would expect, and desires, that the Treasury Department would recognize that the proposed elimination of all defined contribution plans should not include ESOPs.