Copyright 2000 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
May 26, 2000, Friday, Home Edition
SECTION: News; Pg. 17A
LENGTH: 331 words
HEADLINE:
House committee approves bill to phase out estate tax
BYLINE: Larry Lipman, Cox Washington Bureau
SOURCE: AJC
BODY:
Washington --- Setting up a classic fight over whether tax breaks favor the
rich or the poor, a House committee voted 24-11 Thursday to phase out the
federal estate tax over the next 10 years.
The Ways and Means Committee
action could be followed by a House vote early next month. Three Democrats
joined the committee's unanimous Republicans in voting for the measure.
President Clinton has indicated he would veto the bill in its present
form because it unfairly benefits the rich and might jeopardize federal programs
due to lost tax revenue. Clinton vetoed a similar bill last year.
The
bill, which has bipartisan support from 240 lawmakers in the 435-member House,
would affect roughly 58,000 estates a year that pay about $ 27 billion in
federal taxes.
When fully implemented by 2010, the bill would result in
a loss to the federal government of about $ 50 billion a year in taxes,
according to committee staff.
Republicans hailed the measure as a boon
to small-business owners and family farmers, but Democrats said it would affect
relatively few --- but very rich --- people.
Said Rep. Bill Archer
(R-Texas), the committee chairman: ''The time has come to bury the death tax."
Currently, estates valued at less than $ 675,000 do not pay any federal
estate taxes. That exemption is scheduled to increase to $ 1 million by 2006.
Family-owned businesses and farms are eligible for a $ 1.3 million exemption.
Property left from one spouse to another is exempt from any estate tax.
Under the bill approved by the committee, the estate and gift taxes
would be gradually reduced beginning in 2001 and eliminated by 2010. Rates would
not be reduced below the lowest income tax rate for an unmarried individual
until the taxes are fully repealed.
The bill also would phase out gift
taxes and the generation-skipping transfer tax over 10 years.
> ON
THE WEB: Congress: thomas.loc.gov (estate tax repeal bill is
H.R. 8)
House Republican Conference: www.gop.gov
LOAD-DATE: May 26, 2000 
