So called “death
tax.”
Who is right, who is
wrong and who gets the short end of the stick---Again?
Found hiding on page
4 of the newspaper this morning 04/17/2015?
The House voted
Thursday to repeal the federal tax on estates, a politically volatile issue
that affects few inheritances.
Republicans refer to
it as the “death tax.”
They say it prevents
small business owners and family farmers from passing businesses on to their
heirs.
“Can you imagine
working your whole life to build up a family-owned business and then upon your
death Uncle Sam swoops in and takes nearly half of what you spent a lifetime
building up for your children and grandchildren?”
asked Rep. Kevin
Brady, R-Texas, who sponsored the bill.
“It is at its heart
an immoral tax,” he said.
Democrats say
repealing the tax is a giveaway to the rich, since the only families that pay
it have many millions in assets.
The bill now goes to
the Senate where Democrats appear to have enough votes to block it.
The White House has
threatened to veto the bill in part because it would add $269 billion to the
budget deficit over the next decade.
“This proposed
repeal of the estate tax is nothing more than a massive unfunded tax break for
a small sliver of America’s wealthiest families,”
said Rep. Jim
McDermott, D-Wash.
“What are they
doing? Shoveling a quart of a trillion dollars out the door to the richest.”
The vote was
240-179.
The House also
passed a bill to make permanent a deduction for state and local sales taxes
that expired at the beginning of the year.
The White House
threatened to veto that bill in part because it would have added $42 billion to
the budget deficit over the next decade.
Found hiding on
page4 of the newspaper?
STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
Associated Press WASHINGTON