conglomerate Koch Industries Inc. Gee where did I hear that name before?
The current campaign to abolish the estate tax was initiated in the early 1990s by three repeal
pioneers, according to Michael J. Graetz, co-author of Death by a Thousand Cuts, a major book
on the movement. Graetz, in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, cited estate plannerturned
lobbyist Pat Soldano, estate planner Harold Apolinsky, and Seattle Times publisher Frank
Blethen as the “original movers” of the campaign, which was still viewed as a long shot to
succeed even after the Republicans won control of Congress in 1994.5
In the time since, members of some of the wealthiest families in the United States have helped
finance and coordinate the anti-estate tax campaign. This report identifies 18 such families that
have been involved in the repeal movement. Each has helped finance the lobbying effort for
repeal. Several have also funded groups that have run anti-estate tax ads. All but two of these
families have been reported as having assets in excess of $100 million. The other two families
most likely do, as well.6
Collectively, these super-wealthy families have a net worth of at least $185.5 billion. They
include 23 billionaires, each of whom is listed in the Forbes 400. They stand to save $71.6
billion if their repeal campaign succeeds. [See Figure 2]
These include:
• The owners of the first-and-third largest privately held companies in the United States
(conglomerate Koch Industries Inc. and Mars Inc., maker of M&Ms); 7
• The family that owns more than 40 percent of the stock in the world’s largest retailer,
Wal-Mart;8
• The owner of the company that makes Gallo wine and the Dorrance family, which holds
more than a 40 percent interest in the Campbell Soup Company;9 and
• The wealthiest family in the state of Alabama.
The names of several of the super-wealthy families active in the estate tax fight surfaced during a
brief period in which Soldano disclosed her clients’ names. Others were identified piecemeal, by
scouring press accounts, lobbying disclosure reports and other public records.
These super-wealthy families have tried to keep their role in the estate tax debate quiet. Weak
lobbying disclosure laws and the absence of any disclosure requirements for “grassroots”
lobbying efforts, such as issue-oriented advertising campaigns, virtually ensure that other superwealthy
families active in the repeal campaign are missing from this report.
