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May 29, 2005 at 04:00 PM
In the battle over stranger-owned life insurance, the American Council of Life Insurers upped the ante considerably on May 8 when its board voted overwhelmingly to support the creation of a federal excise tax on life insurance contracts that are settled in less than five years.
SOLI, the target for this extraordinary move, is an issue that is roiling the business like few others in recent times.
The stakes here are great. Indeed, in some respects, it is not hyperbolical to think that the very future of life insurance as we know it, with its tax-free inside buildup, could be in danger if SOLI is allowed to persist and be abused. But there is also danger if ACLI’s move goes awry.
The ACLI’s board, made up of some of the industry’s top executives, obviously weighed the issues very carefully before voting on this subject. But even so, there is an unavoidable feeling of trepidation about the possible consequences of the proposal.
The idea of asking Congress to tax anything connected with life insurance is a momentous step, whatever your views on life settlements and the issue of stranger-owned life insurance. The danger is that Congress will brush away the niceties and distinctions in the ACLI proposal and will operate with an axe instead of a scalpel. This would not be the first time it butchered something the industry holds dear.
The old adage about the camel’s nose inside the tent has withstood the test of time in this business for precisely that reason. Once you put forth a proposal like this, especially directing it at Congress, you essentially lose control of what will happen to it once it gets thrown into the ring with the lions. And make no mistake, tax money is like bloody fresh meat to our solons on the Hill, whom I would not otherwise grace by calling them lions.
Life insurers will have to convince Congress that certain transactions with life insurance are bad and that the industry with this proposal is taking a stand against these transactions in order to protect the product and keep its sale within the confines of what’s on the law books.
