PRESS RELEASE
September 7, 2000
CONTACT: Yier Shi 202-225-5716 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONGRESSMAN OSE VOTES TO OVERRIDE VETO OF DEATH TAX
REPEAL
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Congressman Doug Ose (R-Sacramento) today voted to override President Bill Clinton's veto of the Death Tax Elimination Act of 2000.
"I am very disappointed with the President’s action," Ose said. "The death tax is one of the most unfair taxes on the books, because it taxes farmers, ranchers and small business owners twice. The last thing that grieving family members should have to worry about is selling the family business or farm in order to pay taxes."
The House failed today to override the President's veto by a vote of 274 to 157 (a two-thirds majority of 284 was necessary to override). Fifty-three Democrats joined 220 Republicans and one Independent in voting to override. Sixty-five Democrats supported the bill when it passed the House in June.
Under current laws, when someone dies, the surviving family is forced to pay an additional tax of up to 55 percent of the property value of the deceased – even though the deceased spent his or her entire life paying taxes on that very same property. Today’s bill provides for a phased-in repeal of estate, gift and generation skipping transfer tax over the next 10 years.
According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, more than 70 percent of small businesses do not survive the second generation and 87 percent do not make it to the third generation. Sixty percent of small-business owners report that they would create new jobs over the coming year if estate taxes were eliminated.
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