Posted on 06/08/2006 11:07:16 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
Senators voted Thursday to reject a Republican effort to abolish taxes on inherited estates during an election year with control of Congress at stake.
GOP leaders had pushed senators to permanently eliminate the estate tax, which disappears in 2010 under President Bush's first tax cut, but rears up again a year later.
A 57-41 vote fell three votes short of advancing the bill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said the Senate will vote again this year on a tax that opponents call the "death tax."
"Getting rid of the death tax is just too important an issue to give up so easily," he said.
A small group of senators, knowing Republicans lacked the votes to eliminate the tax, had hoped to keep the issue alive with an agreement to remove the tax from smaller estates and lessen the hit on larger ones.
Frist had given the negotiators a lift by agreeing to give such a compromise a vote. That didn't give the tax's strongest critics enough support to maneuver the issue around Democratic opponents, however.
"The estate tax is an extremely costly tax for a wealthy few that comes at the expense of every other American born and yet to be born for decades to come," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat who favors repealing the tax, had warned that negotiators working on a compromise needed more time. He said he hoped the vote would drive senators back to those talks.
Under current law this year, the first $2 million of a person's estate or $4 million of a couple's, escapes taxation. The remainder can be taxed at rates up to 46 percent.
According to the most recent statistics available from the Internal Revenue Service, 1.17 percent of people who died in 2002 left a taxable estate.
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., had been brokering a compromise among Republicans and Democrats interested in paring down the tax and rewriting the quirky law that kills and resurrects the tax.
He proposed exempting the first $5 million of an individual's estate, or $10 million of a couple's, from taxation. The size of estates escaping the tax would increase each year to keep pace with inflation.
Estates between $5 million and $30 million would be taxed at rates equal to capital gains, and the remainder would be taxed at 30 percent.
"That is a fair way to help the people at the lower end of the spectrum and yet collect the revenue from those very, very wealthy estates that we all agree can pay part of this estate tax," Kyl said.
That effort attracted some of the senators who had been wary of repealing the tax but agreeable to shrinking its impact on heirs, but it did not attract enough Democrats who had expressed interest in negotiating a deal.
Two Republicans, Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, broke with their party.
"Repealing the estate tax during this time of fiscal crisis would be incredibly irresponsible and intellectually dishonest," Voinovich said.
"Repealing the estate tax during this time of fiscal crisis would be incredibly irresponsible and intellectually dishonest," Voinovich said.
***
What fiscal crisis?
Complete and total anti-family, anti-business idiots.
Thanks a bunch, OHIO
Chafee & Voinovich should NOT be re-elected when they are due!!!
We are already taxed to death, there is no need to TAX us after we die!!!!!!
The self inflicted one. You know, Senators like Rinovich spending like drunken sailors. (My apologies to intoxicated members of our Navy for being associated with that gang of scoundrels)
Our best chance to get rid of Chafee is to defeat him in the primary election... even though I don't live in RI, I have sent money to his opponent Steve Laffey:
http://www.electlaffey.com/site/index.php
I have not contributed to the RNC or the RNSC this year and am making contributions to selected candidates myself.
Don't blame me, I never voted for this idiot.
You're welcome. Now for this year's choice for Ohio Senator: Mike DeWine or Sherrod Brown. I think I would rather vote for a sharp stick in the eye.
If I had enough money I could give it to Frist and he would work to lower the income and other taxes I pay.
But then, if I had enough money, I would be giving it to Frist to repeal of the estate tax.
I wish I had enough money. ;(
Maybe if we can get all together and pool our money and give it to Frist and we can beat those who individually have enough to bribe him or at least get his attention to cut our taxes and borrow money from China just like he advocates for rich people.
I got it! If rich people can rename the estate tax the "death tax", let's rename income taxes, etc. "life taxes."
Life taxes.
Why do we elect these idiots.....they have no economic smarts.....only soundbites...
Not to mention the sales tax on your funeral services..
I guess we shouldnt blame Bush for supporting Chafee right? I mean that endorsment has paid us back in spades../s
As an OHIOAN, I am ashamed and sorry. Although you can blame his re-election on cleveland, columbus and cincinnati. Liberal hotspots where he campaigned heavily.
Idiots. Since the death tax is entirely voluntary - if you pay a tax attorney enough you can set up all types of trusts etc to get around these taxes - they are only posturing and pandering to liberals with this move.
You might think they would wonder why Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Rockefeller etc etc still have any inherited money. If they were really sincere in their "beliefs", they'd cut out the loopholes for the REALLY wealthy - then watch the inherited wealth senators scream.
Either get rid of it or make it hit the wealthy - let's not pretend.
When the discussion is about how much people can afford to pay rather than how much they should pay, something is wrong.
That's an incredibly stupid and dishonest thing to say. It is already being repealed, you idiot - this vote was to make it permanent after 2010. "This time of fiscal crisis" has absolutely nothing to do with this one way or the other as its repeal will continue through 2010. This guy is either really stupid or thinks all of the rest of us are.
"A 57-41 vote fell three votes short of advancing the bill."
Whatever happened to a simple majority being sufficient like in the House ? The Senate and it's rules are pathetic.
Chafee & Voinovich didn't "break with party"...they ALWAYS vote with the DUmocrats.
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