Women business owners push tax-relief agenda in Congress

POLICY: Orange County members of national group find a sympathetic ear.

September 20, 2000

By JOSÉ ALFREDO FLORES
The Orange County Register

WASHINGTON -- Cristi Cristich came to the Capitol this week to battle the estate tax that could cost her heirs the business she started at the age of 23.

"I don't have that kind of cash to pay for the tax," said Cristich, 38, who started Cristek Interconnects Inc. of Anaheim with four employees.

"It would probably mean the dissolution of my company and 130 of my people will lose their jobs," she said.

Cristich and two other Orange County businesswomen were among the more than 200 National Association of Women Business Owners members in Washington this week for its national conference. The issues on their agenda ranged from the estate tax to employee benefits to the ability of small businesses to get government contracts.

They found themselves in agreement with the Republican House members they spoke to. They didn't have as much luck with the two California Senate Democrats.

The way government regulation and taxes affect small business is a topic familiar to Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, who owned four coffee bean shops before taking office.

He says he was taxed heavily for his small business and dealt with a large amount of government paperwork.

"Small business is where new jobs and new ideas are created," said Royce. "Whatever I can do to encourage that, I will."

Cathy Daugherty, 49, an independent broker at Trademark Insurance in Orange, was pleased to hear Royce's comments. "You can tell he's pro-business. He wants to know how we can help him."

This was not the same on the Senate side, where the women met some resistance.

While meeting with an aide to Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Cristich and her colleagues couldn't come to an agreement with the aide on the estate tax. Boxer supports a compromise version of the tax where only estates worth more than $8 million would be affected. Currently, individual estates worth more than $675,000 are subject to the tax. NAWBO wants the tax eliminated.

Cristich, whose estate is worth $10 million, worries that when she passes away her husband and other family members will be the ones most hurt.

"My income is already taxed," she said. "This death tax is really unfair. It's adding a tax on top of another tax."

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, whose father had a start-up dental supply business, could also relate to the struggles the businesswomen face.

The patients' bill of rights is also of concern. Daugherty wants to eliminate the patient's right to sue one's employer.

"I know how difficult it is for small businesses," Rohrabacher said. "People should be sued for what you're responsible for. If it goes beyond that it screws everything up."

The NAWBO members are among the 1.2 million women business owners in California and 9.1 million nationwide. Businesses owned by women are the fastest-growing sector of the economy.

Because of that, Cristich is confident that her advocating for the issues of her fellow women business owners could play a role in future congressional votes.

"They're not always going to agree with us," she said. "We hope we can influence them to legislate in our favor.