HARRISBURG -- Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann yesterday reiterated his call to phase out the state's inheritance tax, which raised $745.2 million last fiscal year.

He would make up for the revenue loss through unspecified spending efficiencies, Mr. Swann said during a campaign stop yesterday at the W.O. Hickok Manufacturing Co., a Harrisburg business owned by the same family for 162 years and five generations.

The state inheritance tax could stand in the way of a sixth generation taking over the company, Mr. Swann said.

The tax can be up to 15 percent of the estate's value, depending on a beneficiary's family relationship to the deceased.

"We're talking in the millions, and we don't have that cash flow. All our money is sunk in the business," said Peter Hickok, owner of the manufacturing plant, during a phone interview after Mr. Swann's visit. "Basically, my heirs would have to sell the business to pay the tax on it."

That's the kind of thing Mr. Swann wants to prevent.

Lower taxes would promote business growth and stimulate the economy enough to replace the inheritance tax and other business taxes he wants to phase out, Mr. Swann said.

Mr. Swann yesterday could not specify a timeline or a formula for phasing out the inheritance tax, but said the change would take years.

"I don't want to take a big bite out and then not be able to get this program to work," he said. "If you slam on the brakes at 100 mph you might stop, but you might do severe damage."

Dan Fee, spokesman for incumbent Gov. Ed Rendell, said Mr. Swann has not planned how to execute his ideas to cut taxes.

"He can't tell you how much he's going to cut, when people would benefit or how he would pay for it," Mr. Fee said.

Mr. Swann has said only that he will be able to uncover $1 billion worth of inefficient government spending to cut without sacrificing programs.

"He hasn't explained how he's going to do that," Mr. Fee said.

The governor is concerned about the inheritance tax burden on small businesses and families, too, Mr. Fee said. That's why he already has started to address the problem, Mr. Fee said.

Most recently, he signed a law providing inheritance-tax relief for farm families. It exempts half the value of farms that have agricultural easement.

In 2003, Mr. Rendell supported a law that prevented the state from collecting an additional tax that equaled the difference between the maximum federal tax credit allowed for state estate taxes and the amount of the Pennsylvania inheritance tax.

Pennsylvania's inheritance tax rate is 4.5 percent for the deceased's children, grandchildren or parents; 12 percent for siblings and 15 percent for other heirs. Spouses and charitable organizations are not charged inheritance tax.

Eight other states have similar taxes.