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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."

LOAD-DATE: September 8, 2000




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