Doing away with federal death duties on estates would benefit, among others, minority enterprises. Minority enterprises? Sure. In addition to the very rich, small business owners who want to pass on their firms to their children get hit by estate taxes.

• According to a 1995 survey by the Family Enterprise Center at Georgia's Kennesaw State College, 58 percent of minority business owners predicted their firm would fail or have great difficulty surviving their death -- due to the impact of estate taxes.

• Some 90 percent of the surveyed minority businesses knew that they might be subject to the federal estate tax.

• About 67 percent of these businesses had taken steps (including gifts of stock, ownership restructuring, life insurance purchases and buy/sell agreements) to shelter their assets from taxation· More than 50 percent of these same businesses indicated that they would not have taken these steps had there been no estate tax.

Family business owners are twice as concerned about the negative impact estate taxes have on the financial helath of their businesses than they are about that of capital gains taxes.

• The increase in the level of concern over estate taxes has occurred predominantly among businesses with revenues under $10 million.

• In 1995, 55 percent of owners of businesses with revenues under $10 million report having a "good" idea of their estate tax liability, compared with 40 percent in 1994.

Older owners are actually more concerned with estate taxes than they are with income taxes.

• More than one-third of owners over 65 say estate taxes are their greatest tax concern (35 percent), while only 20 percent say income taxes are.

• Older owners are also likely to be more knowledgeable about their estate tax liability.

Owners of larger businesses report having a better idea of their estate tax liability. Seventy-three percent of owners with 100 or more employees say they have a "good idea" of their estate tax liability, compared with 47 percent of those who employ fewer than 25.

Source: "1995 Family Business Survey," Family Enterprise Center, Michael J. Coles college of Business, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, Georgia 30144-5591, (770) 423-6045.