In 2001, Congress ended the so-called "death tax" as part of President Bush's tax cuts. But the tax - which kicks in when a person's assets are valued at more than $600,000 - will be reinstated in 2011 if federal lawmakers do not act. Spanish Fork Republican Rep. Mike Morley's House Resolution 2 asks members of Congress to make the tax repeal permanent.

"It allows someone who has worked his life to establish or develop a business or a farm to pass it from generation to generation," Morley said.

The tax repeal is expected to cost the federal government $50 billion in lost revenue each year. But Morley figures a resulting surge in business will make up for the lost revenue. Between 1971 and 1991, Morley insists, the estate tax discouraged economic development, including a loss of 262,000 potential jobs and $398 billion in capital.

But Salt Lake City Democratic Rep. Roz McGee said Bush's tax cut really benefits a wealthy class of "elitists."

"This is an inheritance tax. It affects those who have had the ability to accumulate wealth," McGee said. "There are very few individuals who are affected by the inheritance tax."

Rep. David Cox, R-Lehi, noted that the founding fathers first adopted the estate tax to discourage the perpetuation of class distinctions that controlled wealth in Britain.

Rep. Mike Noel, however, said the estate tax would hurt his children.

"I guess because I own a farm that I'm one of those elitists," said the Kanab Republican. "I don't think I'm going to benefit from what's in this bill. But my children will. I hope that [ranch] doesn't go to the federal government to do with [it] what they want."

House members voted 59-10 along party lines to send the non-binding statement to Utah's members of Congress.

Morley also is sponsoring a resolution to support Bush's plans for reforming Social Security and another encouraging the Senate to confirm all the president's nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.