Yep, leave it to House Democrats – they must figure there’s no rest for the weary, so no tax relief for the dying.
Yesterday, the House voted 225-200 (with 26 Democrats joining the GOP) to shelve the one-year moratorium on the 45% estate tax currently in place, which was enacted as part of President Bush’s broad palette of tax cuts. Delmarva representatives all voted “no” on the final bill as Mike Castle of Delaware, Frank Kratovil of Maryland, and Glenn Nye of Virginia all decided the tax hike wasn’t worth it.
For Kratovil’s part, he opposed it because:
Rep. Frank Kratovil opposed HR 4154, a proposal to permanently extend 2009 estate tax levels, citing the legislation’s failure to extend adequate protections to family-owned farms. Kratovil also noted that the $3.5 million threshold included in the bill, aimed at exempting smaller estates from the tax, is not indexed for inflation and would therefore put future generations of middle class tax payers at risk from a tax that was never intended for them.
Kratovil then cites his support of an exemption for family farms, provided they remain in the family and devoted to agricultural use.
But there is a trick to this vote, where Democrats who supported the bill can argue they voted for a tax cut. After the zeroing out of the estate tax in 2010, the previous pre-Bush rate of 55% was set to take effect. This bill makes the 45% rate “permanent” (at least until they can sneak in another raise) yet some whined that the reduction will “cost” the federal government $234 billion over 10 years. To which I say, so what! Nor do I care that it currently affects 1/4 of 1% of all taxpayers – it still needs to go!
Let’s be honest here. The game being played by the Democrats who voted for this is one of class envy, and had the bill been amended to Kratovil’s liking he would have been happy to vote for it too. Philosophically I don’t believe he’s opposed to the death tax. However, given the number of Democrats who represent states with high concentrations of agricultural interests that provision may yet be tucked into the Senate bill and make the bill require a conference committee to argue it out.
So those of you who have rich relatives on death’s doorstep probably won’t get the break you deserve – you’ll have to pay the piper as your dearly departed paid during his or her lifetime.
