Death Wish II: House Votes Again to Kill Tax
By Lisa Cross, Business Editor -- graphic arts online, 5/1/2001
The House voted 274 to 154 to approve H.R. 8, the Death Tax Elimination Act of 2001; 58 Democrats voted in favor of the measure. Last year, the measure cleared both the House and Senate, but President Clinton vetoed the legislation. Later, an attempt to override the veto failed, as the vote of 274 to 157 fell short of a two-thirds majority required.
"The death tax has been haunting American families for nearly a century," said bill sponsor Jennifer Dunn (R-WA) at a Capitol Hill press conference prior to the House vote. "With the help of President Bush and the Senate, Uncle Sam will no longer show up at a funeral home with hands open, grabbing as much money as he can from a grieving family."
The Death Tax Elimination Act of 2001 phases out the tax to its ultimate demise in 2011.
"It is time the death tax is completely repealed," adds Ben Cooper, senior vice president of government affairs for the Printing Industries of America (PIA), Alexandria, Va. "We have a president in office who will sign the bill, rather than veto it. The death tax now has a good chance of finally receiving the death penalty it has so deserved all these years."
Still, Cooper said getting the Senate to repeal the estate tax will be difficult, which is why he asks printers to contact their senators on this issue. Printers can contact their senators directly via an e-mailed form letter provided on PIA's Graphic Arts Information Network Web site, www.gain.org.
PIA is a member of the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition (FBETC), which is pressing Congress to pass separate bills in each house that would eventually eliminate the amount of estate taxes paid by family members and heirs upon the demise of a business owner. Bill opponents contend that current tax levels harm family-run businesses, and their employees, by making it too costly to pass businesses on to a next generation. PIA has long argued for reducing or eliminating these burdensome taxes. Other groups forming the FBETC are urging their members to contact their representatives to encourage them to vote for the death/estate tax elimination act.
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