Death Tax Repeal. This vote is analogous to that described under House version (below), except that this amendment by Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) would eliminate the estate tax repeal in the underlying tax cut bill.
[ House version: Death Tax Repeal. This legislation would phase out and completely repeal the Marxist federal inheritance tax that has been on the statute books since 1916. While opponents of the legislation painted the bill as a means of helping the rich, the truth is that this tax traditionally has put poor people out of work by liquidating family farms and small privately owned businesses that are asset "rich" but cash poor. No other tax contributes more to the trend toward the amalgamation of business into huge corporate empires than the death tax; the only way many small businesses and farms can stay in operation after the death of the owner is either through incorporation or through the sale of the private firm to a large corporation. ]
The Senate rejected the Conrad amendment to H.R. 1836 on May 22, 2001 by a vote of 42-57 (Roll Call 158). We have assigned pluses to the nays.
