September 11, 2000
HOUSE LIBERALS VOTE TO KEEP DEATH TAX
ALIVE
Big government won out last week over families, farmers and small business owners as liberals in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to keep the federal death tax on the books and the backs of Americans. The vote came just days after President Clinton returned from a trip to Africa where he pledged to give away millions of hardworking Americans' tax dollars to foreign nations.
Every American school child learns of our colonial forefathers' brave and defiant stand of "No Taxation Without Representation". This bold cry led to our independence from a tyrannical government in England. Some 224 years later, it is ironic that Americans are now charging "No Taxation Without Respiration". Once again, the citizenry is forced to battle an oppressive tax which an arrogant bureaucracy jealously guards as its right.
Born out of the need to fund our military operations in World War I, the death tax came into being in 1916 and has remained law ever since. It serves to destroy the life's work of many Americans and is nothing more than an onerous form of double taxation. The death tax hits both families and workers. It kills small businesses and jobs and brings an end to many American family farms.
It simply isn't right to force a grieving family to sell off the assets and property of a deceased relative just because that relative has passed away. Yet, that's what the federal government demands when it imposes a death tax rate of 37 to 55 percent on survivors. Understandably, many are left with no choice but to sell the inherited family business, farm, or property in order to pay the IRS. This is not only wrong, it's just plain un-American.
According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), one-third of small business owners today will have to sell outright or liquidate a part of their business to pay death taxes. The NFIB also notes that more than 70 percent of family businesses do not survive the second generation and 87 percent do not make it to the third generation. And 60 percent of America's small-business owners report that they would create new jobs over the coming year if the death tax were eliminated.
The Republican Congress has tried repeatedly to end the injustice of death tax but we've been unable to eliminate it outright due to strong opposition from the Clinton-Gore Administration and liberals in Congress. On June 9, the House voted 279 to 136 to phase out the death tax entirely over 10 years. The Senate followed our lead only to see President Clinton veto in August our plan to kill the death tax.
Last Thursday, the House attempted to override the President's veto, but failed to muster the 288 votes (2/3rds majority) required. Ironically, we lost by about the same number of votes as the number of Democrats who switched their vote from supporting the death tax repeal in June to opposing the veto override. It is clear that these lawmakers were willing to give into pressure from the Clinton-Gore White House.
I was proud to vote against the death tax in
June and to override the Clinton-Gore veto last week. While the
Clinton-Gore Administration has managed to temporarily grant a reprieve to
the death tax, you can be sure that next year the Republican Congress will
renew the fight to end this hated tax once and for all.
