WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump is calling for the end of what he’s dubbed the “death tax,” calling it a “tremendous burden” for family farmers and other businesses.

Watch full speech here

Trump says during a tax speech in North Dakota that he will not allow the death tax to “crush the American dream.”

He’s pointing to Julie Ellingson, a fourth-generation rancher who owns a cattle ranch with her husband. The White House says she’s concerned about how the estate tax may affect her children when they inherit the operation.

The White House tax goals released in April include repealing the estate tax, which applies to people with estates worth more than $5.49 million.

The New York Times recently reported that Trump’s chief economic adviser Gary Cohn told a gathering of Senate Democrats that “only morons” pay the estate tax.

 

President Donald Trump is highlighting the presence of North Dakota’s Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp at a tax speech he’s giving in her state, and calling on Democrats to support his plan.

Trump brought the state’s congressional delegation along with him on Air Force One and at one point invited them up on stage.

Trump turned to Heitkamp and told her, “Everybody’s saying, what’s she doing up here?”

Trump says he hopes to get her support on the plan he’s pushing to cut business and personal income taxes and simplify the tax code.

Trump says he wants and needs the lawmakers’ support, and is heaping them with praise.

He says, “They’re all in good company together.”

(PHOTO & SPEECH VIDEO COURTESY CONGRESSMAN CRAMER’S OFFICE)