On February 4, 1998, WLF filed a brief on behalf of itself and a dozen U.S. Senators and Representatives with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California urging it to reverse an Arizona federal district court’s decision that upheld the retroactive increase in the rates of federal gift and estate taxes. The case stems from a tax provision of the 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act signed into law by President Clinton on August 10, 1993, but made retroactive to January 1, 1993. Because of the retroactive provisions, taxpayers who died or made gifts on or after January 1, 1993, found that the estate and gift tax rates shot up to 55 percent.
