Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company
The Boston
Globe
September 8, 2000, Friday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A3
LENGTH: 777 words
HEADLINE:
GOP FAILS TO UPHOLD REPEAL OF 'DEATH TAX' IN DEFEAT, BUSH SEES OPPORTUNITY TO
USE VOTE AGAINST GORE
BYLINE: By Susan Milligan, Globe
staff
BODY:
WASHINGTON - House Republicans failed
yesterday in their effort to separate death from taxes, falling 14 votes short
of overriding President Clinton's veto of legislation to repeal the federal
inheritance tax.
Vowing to use the vote against Democrats in this fall's
political campaigns, Republicans who supported the repeal argued that the
inheritance tax unfairly punishes families by taxing them twice: first on the
income and again when the estate is passed on to heirs.
Democrats "are up to their old class-warfare tricks,"
said Representative Sam Johnson, Republican of Texas. "We don't want Washington
tax collectors operating a toll booth on the way to heaven."
The tax,
created in 1916 to raise funds for World War I, imposes a levy on inheritances
over $675,000.
Congress passed legislation during the
summer that would phase out what Republicans derisively call the "death tax,"
giving $105 billion in targeted tax relief over the next
decade. Clinton vetoed the bill, saying it would frustrate efforts to pay down
the national debt while benefiting the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans.
"This is a misguided bill that provides a huge tax cut for the most
well-off Americans at the expense of working families," Clinton said. "It is a
key ingredient of a Republican tax plan that would leave nothing for Social
Security, Medicare, education, or a voluntary, afford able prescription drug
benefit."
Both Clinton and House Democrats were willing to work on a
compromise bill to help small-business owners and farmers - two groups, both
parties agree, who may be wrongly victimized because the value of their family
firms and farms is more than $675,000.
Republican House
leaders, however, insisted on attempting to override the president's veto,
forcing Democrats to vote a second time against a politically popular measure
two months before Election Day.
While the House in June approved the
estate tax repeal by an overwhelming 279-136, it failed
yesterday, 274-157, to get the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.
Representative William Delahunt, Democrat of Quincy, voted to repeal the
tax on both occasions. All other Massachusetts representatives voted against the
bill both times except for Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Malden,
who did not vote the first time and voted against it yesterday.
"The
American people can tell the difference between a political ploy and those who
want to provide a legislative solution to what is a real problem," said New York
Representative Charles Rangel, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means
Committee.
Yesterday's vote, which followed an angry and often partisan
debate, began what is expected to be a series of congressional floor fights on
issues likely to be raised in both the presidential and congressional campaigns
in the next two months.
Texas Governor George W. Bush, the Republican
presidential nominee, intends to use the inheritance-tax issue against Vice
President Al Gore, said Bush spokesman Ken Lisaius.
The attack could be
especially potent in the battleground states in the Midwest, which is home to
many family farms.
Lisaius said Bush would have signed the bill into
law. Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway said the Republican bill would help the
wealthiest Americans first, giving relief to small farmers only after eight
years.
Republicans also hope to embarrass Democrats by highlighting
their opposition to a bill that would eliminate what they label a marriage
penalty, which forces many married couples to pay higher taxes than they would
if both were single. Democrats support modified versions of the two tax bills.
Congress passed a Republican-crafted measure to eliminate the penalty,
but Clinton vetoed it. The matter will come up again next week when the House
attempts to override that veto.
Meanwhile, Capitol Hill Republicans are
starting to soften their reluctance to support prescription-drug coverage and
raising the minimum wage - both issues that Democrats have been using against
their opponents.
Senator William Roth, Republican of Delaware, yesterday
offered legislation to provide $31 billion for temporary, quick
help for low-income seniors to buy prescription drugs. Democrats immediately
dismissed the plan as inadequate and a desperate attempt to cash in on what has
been largely a Democratic issue.
Bush this week released his
$198 billion plan to cover prescription drug costs for the
elderly, arguing that Gore's plan was too expensive and bureaucratic. But
Hattaway of the Gore campaign said the Republicans are "wrong on the issues, and
they're scrambling to cover that up."
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